The idea for my final came to me one day while currently enrolled in my sociology class at Art Institute College. While eating pizza for lunch with some childhood friends, I began to notice and analyze the normal daily conversation. The routine language used seems to have different characteristics. I began to observe and critique my good friends use words such as “bitch” and “hoe”. Unaware of my new outlook of life, the scene became a little nervous and testy even for a educated and passionate group of adult males. I suddenly asked a older friend if his mother or daughter were here would he still use the same type of language. He responded with a real answer of not using such words. I really felt that he was being honest in public amongst good friends. Although I feel that he doesn’t feel that way towards woman, I began to think about experiences I’ve learned recently at a positivity training and sociology class. Why do I feel different about these feelings and traits about woman? Why Do I feel some common emotions among my friends? Where do these traits come from? Do most men think and talk the same? What is the norm and commonality in others? 

 

           As I discovered through research, simple questions can have very deep significance, meaning and origin. These questions push the male mentality to Re-Learning one’s own personality, Emotions, and Internal Control. The socialization of Emotions are an essential aspect of who we become. How does socialization influence emotions? Our personality, emotions, and internal control are also vital aspects of who we are. Let’s look at how we learn these essential aspects of our being. Socialization influences not only how we express our emotions but also what emotions we feel. Socialization means the sculpting of our minds from our environment, education, religion, social class, and groups of friends. To better understand human behavior, we need to understand social structure, the framework of society that was already laid out before each one of us. My friends all come from different ethnicities of Latino culture, different age range, and even different inner city subcultures. The social structures we live in dictate our typical male patterns, myths and stereotypes within my social group. How did relationships between men and women or students and teachers, control the language between fathers and current leaders of communities. We meaning current Latino fathers must have learned a certain type of social structure that guides our behavior. Those questions lead me to think about more questions, such as how do children develop reasoning skills? I had to research the socialization agents like family, our peers, and the mass media which influence our ideas of gender.

 

            To truly understand our countries social institutions, I started researching the basic principles of government and law.  The Bill of rights and balance of powers such as the first and second amendment, was written at a time when our country was in accordance to state of politics. This was A time of organized confusion. A founding time when the United States congress shall make no law infringing on the freedom of speech or right to security of a free State. Knowing all these politics might of helped me during times of harassment from police enforcement. I would like to quote a line from training day “It’s not what you know, Its’s what you can prove.   Our government is based on a Checks and Balances system. The legislative (Congress) passes bills; the executive (President) is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces; executes the instructions of Congress; veto bills passed by Congress; Judicial (Supreme Court) has authority in regards to laws, reviewing the constitutionality of laws from congress. More importantly how it relates to my study, determines how Congress meant the law to apply; how a law acts to determine the disposition of prisoners; how a law acts to compel testimony and the production of evidence; how laws should be interpreted to assure uniform policies in a top-down fashion via the appeals process, but gives discretion in individual cases to low-level judges.

           

            The model was first developed in ancient Greece, which is a culture big on power, authority, and violence. As Max Weber (1913/1947) pointed out, “we perceive power as either legitimate or illegitimate. Legitimate power is called authority. This is power that people accept as right. In contrast, illegitimate power—called coercion—is power that people do not accept as just.”  The Government institution works together, using money, class, and areas of responsibility so that our branches maintain or gain more power. This abuse of power perpetuates, males 30 and above, to not trust and revolt against authority figures. A generation growing up with a negative stereotype and blame the world on the “man”.  As far as members American power societies are concerned, this is the right way to determine who shall rule because “We’ve always done it this way.” We live all in an old traditional authority. Latino males especially come from a macho traditional culture. The positive is that we love and idolize the mother figure, because most of us grow up not knowing our dads. The flip side is that somehow we have learned to not think highly of our woman. We as males, have learned to separate these different roles of the female gender, when I now believe are the same person. From generations past, as children we inherit the idea that parents should discipline their children according to traditional roles for gender. A culture that structures boy’s life’s in one type of box and the girls in another. Maybe this is where we as males get our lack of gender respect, due to power and money. Our government laws are based on morality from this education, birthing the doctors and schools, who birth the children. This is all a cycle affecting everyone. Our Congress influence laws that influence society. Laws acts to determine the disposition of prisoners. Laws determine how acts to compel testimony and the production of evidence in the court system.

 

            Society’s perception is based on environment, tradition, and largely the media’s influence. Communication through dialogue is important for male individuals, which I think are not given the tools to functionally communicate well.  Latino Males lack in positive communicative skills. Machismo manifests itself in unconventional ways of expression that will be looked down upon as socially inappropriate and negative.  This will inevitably lead to a lack of social opportunity in any environment. The means to communicate is what allows us to live beyond ourselves. It also allows us to interact with the world around us in that it makes room for the other. “In general, communication is essential to an improved quality of life, allowing individuals to make choices, communicate desires, acquire information, and form relationships with others”.  The two forms of communication systems are aided and unaided. Unaided communication is by the use of facial expression, body postures, hand gestures and eye movements. Sign language is also a form of unaided communication but requires special training not available to everyone. Most people also communicate their feelings with inflections in their vocalizations.

 

            High school and college students, especially men, find themselves with social media, internet, and gaming in a seductive way of escaping from the demands of life. For example, how video games portray the sexes is one factor to degrading woman. Women are often portrayed with exaggerated breasts and buttocks. Video games is a big factor of the current media of society, they also reflect influence changes in sex roles.

        

            When I was young way back in the day, the best example that sums up the LAUSD education system is story of thanksgiving. Most students from the Nintendo generation remember told a lie of Pilgrims who, in 1620, chose the land around Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts for their settlement. Fortunately, they were aided by some friendly Indians who gave them food and showed them how to grow corn. When the warm weather came, the colonists planted crops, fished, hunted and became much better prepared for next winter. When harvested their first crop, they invited their Indian friends to celebrate with them what was to become the first Thanksgiving. I not sure if this old story is taught today. Classrooms across the nation and around the world, and is ingrained in most people’s consciousness.

 

The truth is when people began migrating, the microbes that they evolved with migrated along with them. Before the arrival of Europeans, the inhabitants of North and South America were remarkably healthy. But along with the Europeans came their illnesses and their livestock. The native inhabitants were then exposed to the many diseases that can be passed back and forth between those animals and humans - anthrax, tuberculosis, cholera, streptococcus, ringworm and various poxes.
            The native inhabitants had no resistance to the diseases brought by the Europeans and within three years, a plague wiped out between 90 and 96 percent of the inhabitants of coastal New England! This real human experience was taught to me by a militant Latino revolutionary. These plagues set the tone for the relationship of the European settlers, and ravaged the Indian population for the next 15 years. The English settlers inferred from the plague that God was on their side and sanctioned their takeover of the land. John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634, wrote that the plague was "miraculous." He said "God hath thereby cleared out title to this place..." From these plagues, some survivors of the Cherokee lost all confidence in their gods and priests and destroyed the sacred objects of the tribe. Many Indians turned to alcohol, Christianity or simply committed suicide.        

           

 

 

 

"Considering that virtually none of the standard fare surrounding
Thanksgiving contains an ounce of authenticity, historical accuracy, or
cross-cultural perception, why is it so apparently ingrained? Is it
necessary to the American psyche to perpetually exploit and debase its
victims in order to justify its history?" -- Michael Dorris