drugs is NOT an excuse! __ #2

"Assiociation is not Causation", written by Richard J. Gelles & Mary M. Cavanaugh is about whether or not drugs and alcohol can used as an “excuse” for violence and aggression. One thing that boggled my mind is the evidence that they have to prove that the way people behave when they are “drunk” or are drinking is how their society tells them or shows them how they should be acting (page 2, paragraphs 1 and 2). I find this so interesting because that means that when people I know are drinking, they probably really aren’t even really “drunk” or intoxicated, they are just pretending. They are doing it for show because that’s how you are “supposed to act” when you are “drunk”.

 That fact that all these studies prove that all past studies are wrong and that in fact violence and drug abuse do not go hand in hand, is also something new to me and I think that this should be shared more. I think that these two writers did a lot of basic research; they researched the aspect of society of how people are in groups and around others when they are drinking and they expanded their knowledge and understanding of this topic. They applied their research by directly addressing their issue and publishing this article and then they publicly released it so that others can read it and expand their knowledge and understanding as well.

 I also found the statistic that fewer 20% of men were legally intoxicated in 1974 when they were arrested for domestic violence (page 3, paragraph 2), very interesting because most of the time you hear “I was drunk and didn’t know what I was doing” as an excuse for beating on their wife when in fact that excuse is wrong! I mean there is no excuse for beating on someone period, but now no one can really blame it on alcohol because it’s proven to be wrong! And the fact that some drugs, like marijuana, are proven to actually reduce violent behavior is new to me too.

 I think the fact that this article really opened up my eyes and taught me a lot of new things, proves the fact that society chooses what is acceptable and what isn’t. Just recently a friend told me that her boyfriend hit her and the first question out of my mouth was, “Was he drunk?” She replied, “Yes,” and I just shook my head. Now I know that that is not an excuse!

SOMETHING that passed my mind today...

I am a cashier at Sephora, a make-up store, and there are usually 1-4 cashiers at a time and we stand in front of our registers and wait for clients to come up so that we can assist them. Today was a slow day and so instead of just standing there we started to make samples. Now the process to make samples is really simple, you open up the miniature jar, put the product inside of the jar, close the jar, open up a plastic baggy and on the outside of the plastic baggy,  write the name of the product and how/when to use it.

 So, like I was saying, we were making samples of a facial cleanser and at one point I looked up and I realized that we were ‘dividing the labor’. The girl on register four was opening the jars, the girl on register three was filling the jars, I was on register two and I was writing the name of the cleanser on the baggy and the girl on register one was putting the jar filled with cleanser into the baggy and sealing it.  

 If Durkheim were alive to see us he would say that he was 100% correct in his idea that each person has a function and that if you have people specializing in one thing then the work will get done much quicker! And did it get done much quicker?! We did about 90 samples in 15 minutes! I stopped at one point and I laughed out loud and I told them that I learned about Durkheim and division of labor in my sociology class and that Durkheim was a genius and that till this day his ideas are being used and are 100% effective!

 

 

 

His name is Dude.

my heart<3

WHO AM I __ #1

I am simply, a college student chasing her dream. Now I don't say dream[s] because I only have one dream. I want to become a veterinarian and help get all thehelpless animals that are abused and treated bad out of those abusive homes and into new ones. I want to get the poor homeless animals off the streets and into new loving homes. I feel like this is why I was put on this earth, to help the animals that weren't born with voices and give them a chance to speak, a chance at being loved. I feel like I have a gift of being able to understand animals and them being able to understand me (as crazy as that sounds).

My biggest influence is my very own dog and the faces of all the animals who are in shelters, taken from their abusive owners. My dog was adopted by me and my mother in August of 2007 and would cower at the sight of my hand as I would bend down to pet him. He is a small Jack Russell Terrier and the thought of any one hitting an animal that only weighs 15 pounds is horrific. He was beat enough times in his life before me that he feared the same hand that fed him, the same hand that was suppose to show him love and affection.

Animal cruelty is something that needs to be stopped all over the world. It takes place in simple things such as wearing a wool coat or having a leather wallet. People don't think about the animals that were brutally tortured as we enjoy those beautiful leather boots or that beautiful hat that has a stuffed bird on it. Now I am no angel. For I love eating pizza (that has cheese, which comes from dairy, that comes from cows who were tortured) and having a good wallet. I just don't see how and why people can find an animal screaming in pain and writhing in hurt, so amusing.

Looking at the big picture, there still is no justification in stabbing a cow or kicking a dog or burning a cat or whipping an elephant. I think what needs to happen is that people need to be educated on rights and wrongs of animal treatment. From a young age you see toddlers kicking at pigeons and pulling a dog's hair... going to the circus and being afraid of tigers and lions... thinking that when a dog growls at you when you are near their food is a "bad dog" and he should be "punished" -- when he is only doing what's natural for him (protecting his food).

I think that if I am successful, my personal biography will a good one. I think my personal experience as of yet is limited, but i've done my share of saving animals and finding them homes and getting homeless animals off the street -- and those few nights, I slept real good..