Reflective Essay

            In this course Social Justice, I have come to learn many different theories and concepts that I originally didn’t know. One of the concepts that I liked the most was the Standpoint Theory. The standpoint theory states that we can’t be located neutrally. We need to be aware of how things around us like cultural, historical processes are constructing our views, thoughts and our knowledge production. This theory simply states that the knowledge we gain and learn is caused by another person’s or group’s “standpoint.” For instance a child that is five years old growing up, learns his/her behaviours and attitudes from the people around them like their parents or siblings. I learned that in our society we learn our behaviours, and gain knowledge from the people we hang out with and communicate with. What others do impacts are ideas and views of certain things. A person who is part of a group of some kind will learn the norms off that group, because they define how things are set to be. One of the main issues in our world currently is racism. There is a lot of racism through media, from people making stereotypes. When one person starts to being racist to another person or a group, other people that are around that individual being racist will learn off their behaviours and attitudes. People who are influenced by others actions will think that those actions are appropriate. Media causes a lot of racism, for instance TV shows, movies and news stations stir up a lot ideas. When the attacks took place in America in September, 11, 2001, the media started to point fingers at the Muslim people. Soon all the people who started watching the news started to form stereotypes that all Muslims are terrorist. The media only shows people that are violent and hate the American way of living and policies. The people who are watching this in America through the news channels are learning these stereotypes through the standpoint of the media. I learned that in this world there is no social justice. Social justice simply means that everyone regardless of their gender, race, class, etc should all be treated equally and fairly no matter what. At the end of the day we are all human beings. If there is one evil person on the planet, they can influence other people’s behaviours, making them evil as well. That is what the standpoint theory is, it’s that peoples behaviours and attitudes are learned through other’s “standpoint.”

In Class video: Nickel and Dimed from The American Ruling Class!

Affective Reading Method

 

                After watching this video I feel the governments and the corporate companies are taking advantage of people. They make the them work so hard and at the end of the day, these governments and corporate companies pay very little to their staffs. Governments and corporate companies are taking in the extra money and feeding themselves with nice homes, cars and cloths etc.

 

                I think that governments and corporate companies should raise minimum wages for people who work in restaurants, electronic stores and etc. As mentioned in this video that all jobs require skills and experience and there is no job that doesn’t require this. I think that for people who don’t have experience or skills, corporate companies need to give people a chance to learn the job and the acquired skills, which give them experience and will allow them to move forward with better jobs.

 

                I believe that once minimum wages are raised and people don’t need certain experience or skills to get a job, then people from low class can start making more money to pay off their bills and for things like insurance, groceries etc. At the moment people are working hard at their jobs and are not being paid enough for the amount work some people have to do.

 

                I know that even now a days people are still getting paid minimum wage, even though it has gone up since the 1990s. However the costs of gas and food and other things is also going up. So at the end of the day raising minimum wage will not help unless the cost of other things stays down. Most countries are becoming really expensive to live in because the governments have high taxes on everything and if you’re not making enough money, paying for things can get real difficult.

In Class video: Race, the Power of illusion

Affective Reading Method

 

                After watching this video I feel that it opens up your eyes in a way that everyone is the same, whether they are black, white, or asian. Every human being is the same and we have same characteristics like eyes, arms, legs, brains etc. Race is just a developed concept by people to classify other groups of people and separate them from others.

 

                I think that race doesn’t have genetic basis to it, and that human species have not been around long enough nor has the population has been around long enough to develop into a separate subspecies or race. Humans have a very small amount of variations of their genetics compared to other human beings. 

 

                I believe that there is no black or white or yellowish people. Everyone on this planet is brown, its just that were all different shades of brown. Some people are dark brown, some are very light brown and some in the middle. There are plenty of different shades of brown on people, but some ignorant people just classify them as black or white etc.

 

                I know that after watching this video, race is a social concept that people make. There is no biological difference in our race. In the video it shows a white male student’s DNA is similar to someone who is living in Iceland, however it wasn’t similar compared anyone else in his class. That part in the video shows that race is a sociological myth that people have created to separate individuals based on their different appearances.

 

In Class video: Allan Johnson’s Privilege, Power, and Difference

Affective Reading Method

                After watching this video I feel that Johnson raises some key issues, when he talks about consciousness. He gives an example of where products and produce come from. He raises questions like when you pick up a product, ask yourself where did it come from? Who made it? What is their life like? Do they have health benefits? etc. He states that it is pretty hard to eat without participating in someone else misery.

 

                I think that a lot people take for granted that these products are coming from manufacture companies that have robots making and assembling products. But they don’t realize that most of the products that we use here in Canada come from third world countries, where people have to work really hard to make the products, but at the end they get paid every little.

 

                I believe that people need to start thinking about before hand when they go buy products or groceries from their local supermarkets, about where these products come and realize the suffering those people have to go through to make such products. 

 

                I know that by one person its not going to change the world. However if everyone comes together and think about these things, we can change the world. We can change the way these people are treated in the other parts of the world; and give them  their rights and freedoms to live and make equal amount of money as if they were in a developed country.

In Class Discussion: Where do Our clothes come from?

Affective Reading Method                                                 

 

                After doing a small assignment in class followed by a discussion I feel the clothes that we wear come from all different parts of the world. Some of the main places where they come from are China, Thailand, Korea and Vietnam. Most things like toys, electronics, parts for such things get manufactured in third world countries.

 

                I think that we as people take for granted that these clothes are made by machines and not by people. We don’t really pay attention to where these things are made, and who makes them. All people look at is which company is providing these products. For instance people are more likely to pay attention to brands like Nike, Reebok, and Adidas etc.

                I believe that we should take a second and come to reality and realize who is actually making these products. Places like China, Korea get people to assemble toys or make clothes for long periods of the day, but they get paid very little. There was a controversy that Nike was getting China to make their products by paying very little to the people making the actual product. The Nike company was saving money on their own end but clearly wasn’t being fair to those people who worked hard on the products.

                I Know that a lot of the products come from third world companies and not from countries like Canada and the US. By giving these jobs to third world countries it gives them a chance to develop their economy and develop proper services to their people. However taking advantage of people by not paying them fairly for the amount of work they do is a cruel thing to do.

 

 

In Class Discussion: Gacacha System

Affective Reading Method

                After the in class discussion I can feel the pain that Rwandan people went through and are still going through right now when a whole bunch of Tutsi people were slaughtered. It was estimated around 800,000 to 1 million people were viscously murdered in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. I feel very disgusted that the people who took away others lives had no sympathy towards them, and that those people are human beings just like them.

                I think that all the people who participated in killing the Rwandan Tutsi people, should be given a harsh penalty. More like a death penalty should be implemented to these people. They shouldn’t have the right to live after killing so many people. Who are they to decide who lives or dies in Rwanda. It’s not like their God and they hold the power on human beings.

                I believe the Rwandan people are taking the right steps in developing the Gacacha System and putting justice partially in the hands of the victims. I believe they should have the right to decide what punishment these cruel people should face, after all they took away the loved ones from the victim, who will never get those people back.  

                I know that Rwanda can prevent this from ever happening again by punishing those and implementing new rules and laws. By having a proper government with law enforcement on patrol they can help keep their country safe. I know that everyone is the same as a human being, no one is different, and people shouldn’t kill others just because they don’t like them.

In Class Discussion: What does Ice Cream got to do with Water?

Affective Reading Method

 

After this in class discussion I feel that our governments spend a whole lot of money trying to provide people with goods and services to put money in their pockets. They don’t realize that people across the world don’t even have water which is extremely essential for living on this planet to survive. According to the United Nations Annual World Report of 1999, Europeans spend $11 billion a year on ice cream, which is $2 billion more than what it will cost to get water and clean sewers to third world countries.

 

I think that after reading that stat from the United Nations Annual World report; $11 billion being spent on just ice cream is beyond ridiculous, whereas that money can be used to help those in need. I think that the governments take for granted living in developed countries to make money for themselves and ignore the others in need.

 

I believe that if the governments don’t spend $11 billion on ice cream and instead spend it on getting clean water and sewers for countries that are in need, they can help make this world a much better place. In developed countries people are fortunate to have all the luxuries and if we can take some money and spend it on things that can help others that can change their lives is a great cause.

 

I know that in the world that we live in there isn’t much social justice. Social justice simply means that everyone should be treated equally and fairly. People need to come together and raise some of these issues to the government so that they can open up their eyes and see what they are doing is not actually helping people.