"Radio" and Socialization

The movie "Radio" is about a mentally challenged man, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., who is integrated into society through a high school football coach.

At the beginning of the movie, Radio would not speak or interact with anyone in society. When the football was thrown to him, he kept it instead of listening to a team member and throwing it back over the fence. He did not think that he was doing anything wrong. Shortly after, he was duct taped in a shed which was locked and members of the team threw balls at the wall which traumatized him. He saw Coach Jones with a knife in his hand and Radio did not process that he was going to cut the duct tape and rescue him. Radio did not grasp the severity of situations or actions of people easily. Coach Jones asked Radio to join the football team at practices, which he understood, and showed up to practices. After a practice, he joins the coach in his office and takes an interested in a radio which earns him the title of Radio. He understands the concept of trust and starts to speak to Coach Jones with ease.

In the middle of the movie, Radio was interacting greatly within the team and the community. He was standing on the sidelines and cheering on the team with the cheerleaders. He even joined the team on games. His speech was increasing and his interaction with the community was becoming more fluent and lasting longer. Some of the boys tell Radio that a teacher wants him to go into the girls locker room for something. He understands that he can not do that but he trusts the other boys enough to do it. Radio did not understand that he needs to trust his instinct and that everyone is not trustworthy. He is also gaining confidence because he is speaking more instead of holding it in. The love and respect he has for Coach Jones is tremendous especially when he teaches Radio the basics of writing.

By the end, Radio is acting like a fully functioning member of society. He is writing and learning at South Hanna High School among a community of students and teachers that respect him. Radio also reacts to his mothers death quite well. Before Coach Jones interferes and becomes part of his life, the only person he was getting any type of socialization from was his mother and it was too limited for Radio. Coach Jones comes to the rescue and Radio has gained the confidence and social skills to express his feelings in a healthy way and live as a functioning member of society. He had been fully integrated into society and exceeds by the end of the movie.

Throughout the movie, I felt like Coach Jones and his family were the only people that actually cared about Radio who weren't his family. The community really had to be introduced to him to grow some sort of affection for him. If it weren't for Coach Jones, I don't believe that he would have developed at all or handled any situations correctly. Radios' improvement is incredibly impressive. A mentally challenged man that understands and interacts in society to the best of his ability in such a small amount of time, in my opinion, is a reflection of the care other people have towards him. I thought the movie was incredibly inspirational and proves how humans need socialization to survive. Socialization is the key to surviving in this world.

Political Thoughts and the Election of 2012

1) The party I feel that I connect with mostly is the conservative democrats. I prefer more modern ideals while focusing and helping the middle class and those in poverty. I support strong national and international defense. Social security and welfare are very important to this society because many veterans and disabled citizens need it and I believe that everyone deserves equal opportunity and care in this country. 

2) I think that socialized healthcare is a negative thing for Americans. This is because taxes would skyrocket and the middle class and poor would dissolve into one in my opinion. Immediate response and access to medical care would not be provided since more people would report to medical facilities rapidly with the mindset and conviction of immediate care.

3) I am completely pro-choice. It is the choice of a woman whether or not to keep the fetus. Many people consider a fetus a child at the moment it is conceived. I believe that the fetus becomes a child when it takes its first breath outside of the womb which is what many states agree on. A woman may have undergone something traumatic or may not be ready to raise a child. If the woman is not ready or does not believe she should deliver the child then it is the smarter choice rather than forcing the child into the already flawed and unreliable foster care system.

4) Since America was built on the idea of equality, I do not believe that it is America's choice or place to infringe upon the rights of homosexuals. They are entitled to all of the rights that other Americans are guaranteed. I have been to numerous gay rights meetings, protests, and even notorious events such as the Pride Parade which I marched in.

Social Interactionist Thoughts

Sociological theory to me is ideas that are all interrelated to one another. It's just a collection of peoples ideas on what makes people tick and what causes who to do what. A more popular question that everybody asks, not just sociologists, about anything that perplexed them is the question "why?".

On the subject of 'why?', the word authority pops into my mind and how exactly they relate. People always question authority whether it be because they are inebriated, want to show off, or generally want to know why they are forced to do something. My feelings on authority are quite mixed. I'm generally okay with authority because humans need some sort of boundaries and rules or else there would be no order in the world. As long as the person in command does not abuse the power or use it to gain personal satisfaction of having someone obey their sick humor, then a normal and complying action is alright. If the authoritative figures orders something that goes against what I think is right or wrong then of course I'm going to stand up. It's good to stand up and refuse sometimes because a little bit of anarchy keeps the people with power in check.

I believe that if I were to be a sociologist I would be a Social Interactionist. I'm very interested in what people do and why according to the rules they set for themselves, if any. What makes a human attracted to a certain individual human? What is right or wrong within the mind of any given person? The fact that everybody is an individual and acts accordingly to their thoughts but are influenced by society as a whole has always fascinated me. How people react to the things they hear or see is completely different for each individual due to what they know is wrong or right and what certain symbols mean. Seeing people react to themselves and society has always been interesting for myself.

The Milgram Experiment is a perfect example of human beings reactions to morals and themselves. Throughout the experiment, the teacher would have to administer volts of electricity to the student if the student answered one of the questions wrong. Some teachers laughed because they were nervous and that was their way of dealing with the emotional stress while others flat out refused to go on after they were going to be pushed past their comfort zone.

Their reaction to authority was mixed. I believe that every human does want to stand up to authority when their morals and sanity are challenged but not all of them have the willpower in them. If they didn't hear or see the damage they were inflicting, I believe they would have had no problem administering the shocks. The reason I think a majority of them stood up to authority was the fact that they were uncomfortable. It could have been that they were uncomfortable at the fact that they were hurting the other person or that they were being forced to do so. Every human does know what's right and wrong but whether or not they stand up to a figure in power is based on their individual thoughts and comfort. I'd like to believe that people stand up even  when they aren't sure the outcome is going to be okay.

September 11th, 2001

 9/11 is an example of  a life-changing event. There were many reactions but these two different ones really made me wonder.

1. During and after the attacks, people actually united to help one another. Firemen risked and gave up their lives to save complete strangers in peril. Many people donated items to the Red Cross and money to help clean up the rubble. All of these people wanted to help whomever was affected in this event whether it be directly or indirectly.
2. Many people felt hatred towards foreign people - especially Muslims. The constant racial slurs, fighting, and complete ignorance was at its all time high. All of the hatred for what the Al Qaeda did was now being targeted towards completely innocent people.

But as a country, everyone united and for once our barriers completely dissolved and weren't recognized by anyone. On that day, terrorists may have taken lives and symbols but one thing they weren't able to take was our democracy, our love for this country, and especially our freedom.

Introduction!

When it comes to my thought process one key word is always present in my mind - "why". Of course, this was followed by how and so on and makes me wonder what makes us function and behave as a society.

The main reason why I wanted to take a sociology course was because I was always interested on how our society reacts and develops off of each other. It's odd to me how one event, one person, one sentence could impact a person or a large group of individuals. What things bombard our lives with sudden impact? Why can we choose things that affect us and then brush off a delicate subject? The main reason I'm taking sociology is to understand why society functions as one but has many different subsections filled with flaws.