Ian's whimsical blog

Basically I'll be blogging about some required material for my wonderful English professor Ms. Oh, but if something crazy pops into my brain I'll let you know about.

[annanico]

For decades, women have struggled with their weight, and trying to fit the “standard” image of beauty of their times. According to Susie Orbach, “Feminism argues that being fat represents an attempt to break free of society’s sex stereotypes” and that “The relegation of women to the social...

[imastermarrett]

I'm very impressed that you managed to find some positives in this article. When I myself read it I couldn't believe the claims that she was making. Becoming fat for the purpose of rebelling against society is definitely some form of masochism. Women should strive to be healthy and only care about what they think of their body. As long as you love yourself you'll be happy in life, and that is what is really important.

[nyheath-blog]

As part of my major at the University at Buffalo, I have to take general education courses like World Civilization. Initially, I was excited because I had enjoyed history courses in high school to the point where I dressed up like Alexander Hamilton for a debate in AP American History.

...

[imastermarrett]

Well heath I have never audited a class, but I have certainly skipped my fair share. I too struggle to remain concious during a world civ lecture. The best technique I have found is to stop attending the class entirely and rely solely on my textbook. This technique worked rather well for me seeing as how I got an A on my midterm.

[rachaelherbst]

I read this article as a white American who has no ethnic identity that I practice. I know all the ethnicities I am such as German, Native American, Dutch, etc. but none of them define me. So when I read this article and come to learn that people who chose to exercise their ethnicities don’t like...

[imastermarrett]

I really like the last part of your post about how people shouldn't be offended by the questions about the ethnicity that they practice, but I see how it could become offensive if it became a daily occurrence like what is mentioned in the article. I'm see both sides of it but I definitely hold the same opinion as you. 

[gparts123]

the perfect image is all anyone wants to gain, in today’s society that means skinny. the skinnier the better. the supermodels you see today appear to be close to 100 pounds, making average teenage girls think that being that skinny and unhealthy is the only way they will look good to society. in...

[imastermarrett]

Great point about how fat is not a social disease, just a result not being healthy. It irks me that someone could actually think that women are the only people who suffer from obesity. Susie wrote a terrible piece for the feminist movement.

[mpayne6]

In class yesterday we watched Sicko, the 2007 documentary directed by Michael Moore. The documentary is about health insurance companies and how they work. After watching the documentary, your eyes are really opened to how they treat people. In the U.S. you really need health insurance if you...

[imastermarrett]

It sickens me to think about people being denied the healthcare that they clearly need, especially the small children in that film. More action needs to be taken to help people like that.

[imastermarrett]

White Privilege is Bad

I guess I knew that white privilege was a real thing before reading Peggy McInthosh’s article, but what I didn't know was just how far it extended. When she began listing all of the different aspects of her life that she could count on having an advantage in because she was white I was a little shocked. There were just so many things that I had never considered, like how she says that she can succeed in a situation and no be considered a credit to her race. That’s a terrible thing if you really think about it. If I were successful at something I want to be given the credit, not have it go to everyone with the same skin color as me. As a white man I now feel like I haven’t earned a lot of the things that I have even though I know that I worked hard to get them. I didn't realize that when I see someone of a different race with the same things as me that they may have had to work twice as hard to earn it. Now that I see just how far white privilege extends I have begun to question a lot of the things that I have. It was never apparent to me that it was that big of a real social issue because pretty much everyone from my home town was white. But also since it was such a small town everyone pretty much seemed the same even if they weren't white. That’s how I viewed it, but now I feel bad for my friends and am wondering how much harder they really had to try at things to get the same results as me. It’s issues like this where the world really needs true equality.

[imastermarrett]

No Social Media Flight

Social media is a very recent development in the world. People are still trying to figure out what’s its long term role will be in the world. As more and more social media websites are created it makes sense that people will switch around and try to find one that they enjoy. Facebook is newer than Myspace so it only makes sense that people would try it out after they already had a Myspace page. The switch between social networking sites is definitely more due to trends than racism. I think that Danah Boyd’s piece “White Flight in Networked Publics” is too focused on the individuals like “Kat” that she spoke to. Given that there are over one billion Facebook users I think her sample size is a little small for her to be drawing such broad conclusions. In the real world people choose do things with people that they like more often than they choose to not to things that people that they don’t like are doing. A groups switch from one website to another is more due to the fear of being left behind than that they are trying to get away from another race. If the cool kid of one clique decides to switch to a different social networking website than the rest of their friend group will follow. They do this because they like that kid and think that they have the right ideas about which one to use. One person won’t risk losing all the Instagram followers that they have just because a race they don’t like happens to use Instagram too. There may be small amount of people in the world that are that racist but they are such a small group that essentially do not matter.

[imastermarrett]

Model Minority Support

It is very unfortunate that there is a myth of a model minority. Noy Thrupkaew’s article certainly proves that. Each immigrant that comes to America has their own reason and circumstances for doing so and it’s not fair to assume that all of them have equal chances of realizing the American dream. The immigrants south East Asia are at clear disadvantage when compared to their more educated counterparts from China and India. The education that the others arrive with puts them in a better situation than many people who have lived in the US. Since the south East Asian immigrants lack that education they really don’t have much a chance at succeeding in American society. I believe that since the US is nation founded by immigrants we need to do something to help those that are still arriving. The line on the Statue of Liberty about the poor and huddled masses inspires those disadvantaged people to come here. If that is still how we feel about immigration then we need to do something to put those poor and huddled masses in position where they can succeed. Education is the key to that. Once a person legally immigrates to the US then there should be some kind of GED program that will put them on even footing with the rest of their fellow citizens. That would be an ideal situation.  

[imastermarrett]

Meat and Feminists

Carrie Packwood Freeman and Debra Merskin's piece “Having It His Way” may be one of the most obnoxious pieces of feminist literature that I have ever read. Early in the piece they talk about how humans were primarily vegetarians until 20,000 years ago. They say that when this happened men made rituals that excluded women so that they could gain status for their own gender. The authors claim that this theory was created by anthropologists, but I feel like there is definitely a twisting of words to suit their feminist agenda in this article. The authors act like the sole purpose of meat as a food is to demean women. They are completely forgetting the fact that meat is indeed a very delicious and nutritious form of food. By concluding as much as they do the authors are turning an inanimate object into the battle field for a war that only feminists are fighting. Most people are perfectly fine with watching a commercial on TV about meat without feeling the need to question everything about their identity. I think the authors of “Having It His Way” should be ashamed of themselves for writing something so attacking towards a simple kind of food. It looks an awful lot like they just made every argument that feminists have be centered on meat. That really takes away from the actual message behind feminism which is equality between both genders. They do shame to a noble cause by making such weak and trivial arguments.  

[imastermarrett]

Too much on her plate

Alma Sayeed has a lot of things on her mind. After reading her excerpt about being a first generation Indian Muslim living in America I have no real idea about how she feels about her identity. All that I can tell is she has put a lot of time into an evaluation of herself. She raises many interesting ideas but they all seem to conflict too much. I feel as if she wants her readers to think that she has herself totally figured out when in reality she just knows what the pieces of the puzzle that is her life are, but has no idea how they fit together. I realize that everyone is complex and I think that Alma does too, but she is just going overboard with how much self-analyzing she is doing. I would highly recommend her a chill pill. She starts the piece out by mentioning how stressed out she is a result of finals and a few other issues. The main reason for her stress is definitely due to the conflict that she has with herself going on in her head. I’m a college student just like her, experiencing the pressure of finals and swamp by papers; but I don’t think I’m anywhere near as stressed as she is because I’m perfectly fine with who I am as a person. She needs to quit worrying about society as whole so much and focus a bit more on who really matters… herself. I’m not a shrink or anything but I feel like that would give her a lot more happiness. 

[imastermarrett]

Is Capitalism Gendered and Racialized?

Is capitalism gendered and racialized? Yes, it clearly is. I’m not entirely sure why Joan Acker feels the need to ask this question. Tradition tells us that certain jobs are meant for men or women. Men are supposed to be mechanics and women are meant to be secretaries. That’s just the way that things used to work in society. Times have certainly changed and that means that men and women are free to take on new roles, but we still view those old ideas as the accepted ideas for how capitalism should work. I’m not saying it’s fair that that’s how capitalism works, it’s just how it does work. Men have been in charge of pretty much everything for the past two thousand years. When something lasts that long it is going to take a while to change them. I now realize why Joan Acker felt the need to ask if capitalism is gendered and racialized after writing that sentence. She hopes to make the change happen faster by getting people to wonder about her question. Capitalism is still racialized for the same reason it’s gendered. Whites have been in charge of America since before it was even a country. That’s obviously not fair but it is going to take a while to change because that’s what is traditional. To accelerate the rate at which these desired changes take place, we as a society need to all admit that there is a problem. This is going to prove difficult because obviously the people in power and making all the money won’t want to give up that advantageous position. Once the white men at the top of capitalisms food chain decide to share their position then capitalism will be fairer. 

[imastermarrett]

Optional Ethnicity

  After reading Mary Water’s article “Optional Ethnicities” I feel like I have to offer an apology to every person at college who isn’t white that I have asked a question regarding their race. Like Waters explains, every question is based off curiosity and lack of knowledge on my part. I’m from a small town with a predominantly white population so I really don’t have too much experience with other races. I feel like it is perfectly natural to ask a question when I lack knowledge on the subject, just as I expect others to do the same. But I guess I didn’t consider how hearing a question could actually hurt someone’s feelings, so I apologize to anyone who been negatively affected in the way that Waters describes. Moving on from the apology I would like to congratulate her on the accuracy of her description of how white people feel about their ethnicity. I personally identify myself as American because that makes more sense to me than pretending whatever European nation my ancient ancestors were from has any relevance to my life. Since that’s how I feel I naturally assume that everyone else thinks the same as me. I guess I knew that other people’s ethnicities may be important to them but I don’t think I really understood all the ways in which ethnicity was relevant to their lives. I was always told that people were supposed to meet people who were very similar to them in college, so it made sense that groups of black students would become close. The thing I didn’t know was that there was a defensive factor involved with that as well, it’s very unfortunate that that is a thing. Overall I found that “Optional Ethnicities” to be an enlightening take on things that I believed to be common sense.

[imastermarrett]

Not Healthcare

Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko leaves me feeling like a parent to who tells their children that they’re not mad at them, just disappointed. I’m the parent and the US healthcare system is my disappointing child. I’m used to living in this system so it just feels like a fact of life to me, but hearing how someone can have their infant die of illness because they were turned away from a hospital that their insurance didn’t cover is possibly the saddest thing I have ever heard. That makes me scared to be a parent someday more than the usual concerns. I recognize that it will be extremely difficult to implement a healthcare system where free universal health care is a reality but it is most certainly something that needs to be done. I’m not saying that I know how we can do this, but our best and brightest need to figure out a way to make it happen. When it is revealed that people in other countries have their healthcare systems so much better than ours I don’t know how we cannot be jealous. America is supposed to be the greatest country on Earth but we can’t even take care of our sick. The French are portrayed as being care free when it comes to health concerns. Why is that something that we wouldn’t want? The idea of socialism is a good one, but history has shown us that the consequences are too bad to put up with it. But I think we need to see that there are some parts of it that are absolutely required for a modern country to prosper. We as a nation need to do better.

[imastermarrett]

Not a Good Situation

Selling sex for visas is not the golden ticket for the large number of women is Sosua who have taken up prostitution as their profession. It may lead to a marriage certificate and a plane ticket for a few of them, but even still, living in Europe will not really be a better life for them. The women give up practically everything just to have a job that all of society looks down on. They are forced to leave all of their loved ones behind when they move to Sosua. Their new life is only worth it if it makes them happier than they were back at home. Sure, money might be tight back where they are from but money isn’t everything. It’s much more about the people who are around you. The women trade a loving family for the company of disgusting sex tourists who see them as nothing more than something to buy on a vacation. A switch between those two environments cannot be good for someone’s mental health. The thing that might be the worst part of the situation that they put themselves in is that the majority of the women leave their children behind them with family members. That puts extra stress on the family members and forces the child to grow up without its mother. If you have a child, it needs to be your main concern in the world. I can see where the women are coming from when they think they need the money to raise the baby but I think that it’s more important to just be together. All in all it is an awful situation that they have in Sosua, not a hopeful one like Brennan makes it seem like.

[imastermarrett]

Fat is not a feminist issue

Susie Orbach's article "Fat is a Feminist Issue" may be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever had the misfortune of reading. People like her are the reason that feminists have a bad name in society. It seems that she believes that only women have to deal with being fat. She acts like there is no pressure on men to have a perfect physique. If anything it’s harder for a man to be attractive than women. If a women is unattractive she can throw on about five pounds of make up and completely change her appearance. If a man is ugly then he just has to deal with it. Susie also seems to think that being fat is more mental than physical for women. Being fat is an issue of being healthy. If you turn it into anything more than that you are simply looking for problems and are in dire need of a chill pill. People who are morbidly obese would certainly have an issue with her turning their health concerns into a way for women to rebel against society. The article acts like being fat is all that women think about. One sentence really stands out as completely ludicrous. “Fat is about protection, sex, nurturance, strength, boundaries, mothering, substance, assertion, and rage.” That is just too much thinking about a little bit of extra padding on the stomach. That’s what I think is wrong with her logic. People need to be more concerned about just living their life and being happy instead of letting other people’s opinions be their main concern. Focus on you and everything is a lot better.  

[imastermarrett]

My first blog

Hi guys. I'm pretty excited to be introduced to the world of blogging and other such internet fancies. This is just my first post to get my excitement out about the future so please don't count this as my grade Ms. Oh. My priorities are to follow as many cat meme blogs as possible so I will be able to keep up with all the latest trends. Oh snap, class is over. Until next time tumblr, this is imastermarrett signing off!!