Domestic Disturbia

This past week the LAPD leaked photos of Rihanna taken a short time after she was beaten up by Chris Brown. The rumor after the Grammys and before the picture was leaked was that Rihanna had two large bumps on either side of her head which looked like "devil's horns" and that she was strangled to unconsciousness and then left by Chris Brown. While it has not been verified that she was strangled to unconsciousness, the leaked photo shows both the bumps mentioned in the rumer and signifigant bruising around Rihanna's neck. What Chris Brown did was horrible, and I was deeply disturbed by it. I know that domestic violence occurs everyday all over the world, but it was startling to see a face that I know so well be so damaged.

I also happened to have been a fan of Chris Brown, up until a few weeks ago. Now I'm struggling with how to feel towards him. The way this situation relates to Sociolgy is that he and his family were abused by his step-father. He has talked about this openly in the past.
We know from theories about socialization and modeling in Social Psychology that children learn what is modeled for them. What a child is exposed to before eight years old permanantly alters his or her personality. Children of abusers are likely to marry or date abusers or become abusers themselves.
How much should I let this fact affect my opinion of Chris Brown? It doesn't lessen my disgust at what he did, or my sympathy for Rihanna.
I guess I think that at the end of the day, its up to each individual to decide who he or she wants to be. We are all equipped to develop a second nature. I am very hesitant to medicalize rage and violence. They are much like other human actions that we blame on biology, which are actually caused by a lack of self control.
One can only justify his or her actions for so long. Chris Brown is a 19 year old man, and no matter what abuse he experienced as a child, I hold him fully responsible for his actions. There is nothing to blame but his lack of self-control.

Christ.

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Commercial of Your Nightmares

I've been preparing a post for a while about sexist commercials. This one doesn't fit into that category but it is scary.as.hell.
Do no watch right before going to sleep.

Let there be Justice even if the heaven falls!

"Justice is the constant and perpetual will to give each man his due." -Domitius Ulpianus

Justice is very important to me for reasons which I have trouble explaining, not just to others but to myself as well. I know that I have strong feelings about it, and that I have very little hesitation in deciding what I think is "just" or "unjust".
I had learned about Rawls' theories in my ethics class- about justice being fairness- and I am pretty sure that I disagree with just about everything he says.
So, I made this:

I think that it is only reasonable that I explore the concept of justice so that I can better understand and articulate my feelings about it. Also, so I can fight the madness that is justice as fairness.

Maybe some of you are familiar with Karl Marx's quote, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." This was actually a statement Marx made in regard to a perfectly communist society, where everyone is producing the maximum that they possibly can. He later refined his statement to, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution," to make up for the fact that, in reality, some people are lazy and don't contribute.

I have a problem with this statement because people ought not have to contribute as much as they are able, but as much as they want to contribute. They should have the freedom to decide whether they wish to only contribute half of their time or ability, or none at all. Also, unlike Rawls (damn you, Rawls!), I think that people ought to be able to pass down and give their money to others; that it is just that they be able to do so if they choose.
That is why I most agree with Nozick's statement "From each according to what he chooses to do, to each according to what he makes for himself, and what others choose to do for him, and choose to give him of what they have been given previously."

I will talk some more about justice a little later on, I am afraid of putting too much in one post and getting bogged down.
But before I go, here's a little sneak peek for you to begin formulating your own thoughts about whether it is merit or desert deserves greater consideration:

Merit: Chelsea merits more praise because she is very intelligent and got a good grade on her exam.
Desert: Savannah deserves more praise because she studied really, really hard for her exam and got a good grade on it.

But a dandy can never be a vulgar man.

I conversed with someone today who was quite remarkable. She was dressed outlandishly in a tasteless geometric print dress.
She did all the talking and demanded all the attention, and I listened patiently. But when it was my turn to speak I felt like I had to rush, because she wasn't listening or appearing engaged. This made me feel really uneasy. There was none of the usual give and take, the dance that you engage in when in a conversation with someone.
She cleaned her fingernails with the cap of her pen.
She laughed too loudly at her own jokes, and rolled her eyes at my music taste and my opinions that differed from hers.
After 15 minutes I found myself in almost a panic, wanting to get as far away from this person as possible. I cringed every time she opened her mouth, and as soon as I could make a discrete exit, I was out of there.
I realize now that this is person is almost a perfect example of an anti-seductive personality detailed in The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene.

The Vulgarian: Vulgarians are inattentive to the details so important in seduction. You can see this in their personal appearance- their clothes are tasteless by any standard- and in their actions: they do not know that it is sometimes better to control oneself and refuse to give into one's impulses. Vulgarians will blab, saying anything in public. They have no sense of timing and are rarely in harmony with your tastes. Indiscretion is a sure sign of the Vulgarian (talking to others of your affairs, for example); it may seem impulsive, but its real source is their radical selfishness, their inability to see themselves as others see them.

This is a time when it is appropriate to be judgmental. No good can come from associating with a person like this. I know that we have all encountered Vulgarians before. I encourage you to stay as far away from them as possible. More than just avoiding Vulgarians, you should make yourself their opposite- tact, style, and attention to detail are all basic requirements of a seducer.

There's A Tear in my Beer

As a Sociologist, I am very interested in groups. I find it very odd that people act so differently in groups than they do individually. One of these phenomena is a subculture.

A subculture is the culture of groups whose values and norms of behavior are somewhat different from those of the dominant culture.
We are pretty used to encountering subcultures in our day to day lives. My college campus is a subculture, as is a church, a professional association, and a social networking website.
Subcultures get really interesting when they turn crazy stuff that the dominant culture would never stand for into norms.
A few examples that come to mind are cults, sororities, and Mormons.

Cults can convince sane people that it is normal behavior to move to Ghana and kill your baby before killing yourself.
Sororities can convince intelligent, attractive women to degrade themselves publicly in order to join.
Mormons can convince large groups of women that it is normal to be treated as a second class citizen in a house where their husbands have multiple wives.

I read an interesting article today in the academic journal Social Forces (just a sociology journal). It was titled 'The Effect of Country Music on Suicide' by Steven Stack and Jim Gundlach.
These guys did research where they compared the suicide rate in 49 different metropolitan areas with the proportion of radio airtime devoted to country music. They then controlled for poverty, southern locale, divorce, and gun availability (all common predictors of suicide).

They found that there was a very significant correlation between white suicide rates and country music. Metropolitan areas with a high proportion of country music airtime are also high in suicides.

It's not hard to imagine why. The researchers state that three fourths of country songs are about broken hearts, over 50% of the songs are about financial strain, and an incredible number of them represent alcohol abuse as a normal way to deal with your problems.

Here is the interesting part. They aren't claiming that the country music is what causes people to commit suicide, but the country music subculture.
You see, there was no correlation between black suicide and country music.
Black people may listen to country music, but they don't view themselves as part of the country music subculture.

Why would the country music subculture affect rate of suicide, you ask? The researchers say that when a group forms a subculture, the impact of music on mood can be multiplied.
That's right, being a member of a subculture can make music have a bigger impact on your mood. Think of it like being at a concert with a bunch of moshers, or on a dance floor, or your school band playing at a football game. Your participation in all of these subcultures makes you experience the music more than if you were listening to it at home alone.
Because black people don't buy into the country music subculture, they are able to view country music as just music, not a way of life. Country music was found to foster a suicidal mood among people in the subculture, not among the casual listeners.

This article totally creeped me out. I think that from now on I am going to pay much closer attention to my subcultures and what norms they could be indoctrinating me with.