Saints & Roughnecks

1. One of the reasons that the Saints were overlooked for their delinquent behavior was their academic success.  The Saints usually maintained an A or B in classes while the Roughnecks would fail or get very low grades. The Saints would drink and get drunk in bars while the Roughnecks would be drunk in public. The Saints did also financially okay while Roughnecks had tougher times financially. Of course, people usually look at people’s backgrounds to see if there way of life is influenced by their home-life. The Roughnecks had it rougher and therefore were blamed for many of their criminal acts. Since the Saints didn’t have it as tough, people really didn’t point fingers at them. It’s all about the environment everyone grows up in. If you have it rough, you’re going to have rough stereotypes on you, even if you aren’t that bad.
2. Not necessarily a serial killer but he killed someone. I forgot his name but we went to one of his motivational speeches that he has to do for community service. He killed someone while texting and driving. His life changed forever because of what he did. He served his time and jail and now has to go around doing talks for part of community service. He can’t drive and relies on people to drive him to work. Not only does it affect him but it affects his wife and kid. One small action can change one’s life forever. Now he has to live with guilt of killing an innocent man for the rest of his life.

Freddie Gray

Did Freddie Gray let down his country or did his country let him down? In this whole situation, I believe that Freddie Gray is not innocent, but his rough upbringing probably did not help the case. More importantly, what happened to him in the police van that was transporting Gray was uncalled for. He had a tough upbringing and even lived in a house with lead paint that poisoned him and led him to developing disorders such as ADD. Freddie lived in a tough part of Baltimore; a place many people try to avoid. One day on April 12, Freddie Gray was pursued by cops by foot when Gray started running when seeing a cop. I find it strange why he started running when he saw the cops and then why the cops decided to chase after him. Either Freddie did something that he thought he had to run from the cops (since he had numerous run-ins with the law previous to this particular arrest) or did the cops have some type of stereotypical idea that some black man was running from them and there for he must be guilty for something. The police found a switchblade that apparently was illegal in the state of Maryland and broke the code of possessing a weapon in the city of Baltimore. When taken into custody, bystanders witnessed Freddie screaming in agony when being dragged to the police van that would transport him. When the van made its stop at the police station, medics were called to take Gray to a hospital because he slipped in a coma. His family stated he slipped in a coma by fractured vertebrae and that his spine was severely severed at the place of his head. He also suffered a heart attack but was successfully resuscitated even though he never gained consciousness. Gray would later die a week later from his injuries, leading to Baltimore to go in an outrage, especially the black community.
Police brutality is something that happens. When cops think they have all the power in the world to do whatever they want because they sport badge. That's not the case. There is no reason to beat up on someone even if they are guilty. They are still human. Six Baltimore cops were suspended for their actions and handling of Freddie Gray. Riots ensued in the city of Baltimore. The story of Freddie Gray was widespread and on the news every day. Even though Freddie Gray may have not been the most innocent man to live, he certainly died in an unlawful way. Police, who are supposed to protect civilians from harm, were the reason Freddie Gray died that day. Police officers let their country down. Police officers let down the city of Baltimore and Gray himself.

Guns, Power and White Privilege

As of today, we live in a society where the majority of the people are white. The white race is the dominant race in America, as many white-ran media outlets will try to show you. As much as you would like to say that our country America, land of the free and home of the brave, is racist-free, it's not. Racism still lingers in today's air. The news will show you many shootings and robberies committed by blacks or even blacks getting shot down. Many will generalize that they had it rough growing up, and that they are all just a bunch of young "thugs". However, if you see white kids fooling with guns you see nothing wrong with it. They are just harmless. Media has influenced the human ideology into believing that the blacks or the minorities are the reason for all the violence and the trouble that brews. White privilege, the idea that if you are white you have the upper hand in today's society and can easily get away with things that non-whites can't, exists. It is no myth because you can see it with your own eyes. Turn on the television, maybe go read the newspaper and see for yourself. But, if you look at all the school shootings that have happened, 97% of the perpetrators are white. We don't call any of them "thugs". Their motives are to shoot as many people as possible and then take their own life in the end of their kill spree. That is one of the only times you will actually see white people on the news for killing people. When Sandy Hook happened, it was on the news for weeks. It just happens that Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook villain, was white. Other than that, I can't recall watching the news and hearing about a white guy shooting others, due to the fact that White Privilege is alive and well and that media will show mostly minority screw-ups, just because they are minorities and the whites are the majority.
The 2nd Amendment, which states that we all have the right to bear arms, was drafted by white men. Black people or any minority in particular back then had no say on anything, regarding making up our country's foundation. Our country was found basically by the white man. Rules were drafted by the white man. America's society make-up was created through the eyes of the white man. We are a white man society. A long time ago when America was only 100 years old, the National Rifle Association was created.The NRA, of course was made by white people  One of the main reasons for the creation of this association was to improve marksmanship, especially those that were to fight in any war. It promotes the 2nd Amendment and gun safety. There are over 5 million members in the NRA as of today. The NRA, because it is a huge gun promoting association, is a scapegoat for the misuse of firearms, such as school shootings or slayings of others by a gun. The one thing I found interesting was back in 1967, when the blacks wanted to carry a gun for protection, the NRA supported the Mulford Act, which restricted people from carrying hand guns. An organization who promotes the usage of guns and all of a sudden they are supporting the restriction of guns. Is it because they are scared? A study backs this up a little by saying whites are more likely to shoot someone who isn't white. They have a quicker reaction to fatal decisions. The whites seem to be trigger-happy when it comes to decisions like this. Is it the stereotypes that we see on television or any news outlet the reason we are scared? Honestly, every race is guilty of murder! No race the superior race. No race is perfect. Yet, when we live in a society where whites have the privilege, the whites tend to get away with a lot. If you see a white cop kill a black man, it was the black man's fault for retaliating, even if the cop was using unnecessary force.
What is the future of guns? Guns will one day become an ancient artifact. Guns and the control of them are becoming such controversy that America will one day get rid of guns as we know it. Or, guns might be like drugs. Some people use drugs even if they know their illegal. A man or woman might secretly still keep a gun with them even if the laws says otherwise. When people get caught with drugs, they go to prison for possession of drugs. You can go to jail with possession of firearms but that's only if your in public. We're talking about them just being your house! "Oh honey, the cops are here, hide our guns!" The 2nd Amendment would change forever and the NRA wouldn't exist. Only the army can possess firearms. But how would the world fare without firearms? Well, there would be less paranoia. A white man can't fire his pistol at a minority if he's scared. Maybe there should be an experiment for one moth or maybe a year where the 2nd Amendment doesn't exist and guns are illegal under any circumstance. Emotions and economics would be effected greatly. Honestly, we couldn't live in a society without guns. Gun sales bring in good money for the USA and even if guns were illegal just like drugs, people would still smuggle them.
What would happen when one day, the whites are no longer the majority in America. In fact, Hispanics are slowly becoming the majority. Would the paranoia whites have lived since the creation of the gun increase? I believe gun sales at this time would soar. Same for any other minority. We are all going to be paranoid by all those stereotypes that we learned about that we will buy guns to protect us. Guns will be our new homeland security. Deaths of firearms will increase due to the human race looking over their shoulder every minute, fearing if they are about to die. Guns wouldn't be a big issue if everyone knew how to properly use one, but since their are idiots in our society that have no idea how to use one properly, we will continue to live in a world with paranoia.

Article on Deviance

I found an article on deviance that deals with a serial killer and how his home life was based off of deviant behavior. The serial killer, Kyle Alegria, was found guilty of kidnapping, raping and sexually assaulting a seven year old girl. A psychologist inspected Alegria and stated that if Kyle's parents' goal was to bring up a kid who has a good chance of being a criminal with sexual and violent deviance, they did a great job. As a young boy, Kyle Alegria was exposed to domestic violence, pornography and violent horror movies as a young kid. By the age of three years old, Kyle was already watching porn in which both of his parents encouraged. His parents wanted his addiction to these types of things to flourish. When Kyle was about seven or eight, he was raped by another neighborhood kid. Even though Alegria's parents both knew about this raping, they took no action and thought nothing of it. Alegria would go on to tell his psychologist that he would often times have sexual fantasies about his mother and that most of his life, images of sex and violence were engraved into his head.                                                                                                                                            It goes to show that if you are raised in a certain way, it will most likely carry on as life progresses. If you are taught as a young child that sex and violence are an okay thing, you will most likely take these teaching and accept them as moral standards. If a set of parents would like their son or daughter to grow up and be someone society can respect, do us a favor and raise your kids the right way. Young kids look to their mom and dad as influences and if parents aren't very good people and have unacceptable principles, your kid will most likely soak up the way they live and follow the example of his or her parents.

FYI: Article used for this blog.