Technology is a Crutch!

In class, there was a discussion about technology and how dependent everyone have become on it. Thinking back when I was younger, I did not have a cellular phone or any portable electronic. I did not care to have one because I was satisfied with my life without them. As I got older, I wanted a beeper, then a cell phone, then a laptop. The effect the media's supply and demand had convinced my friend that then influenced me. Now that I have all of them electronic devices that I craved for before, I can not imagine my life without them. I can not think of a portion of my life that does not involve a electronic device. A comment was made to me about that American take the education system for granted. I agree, I was born and raised in a environment that going to school is just another practice that everyone is expected to do. A student in my class said that we are not really doing hard work. He said that we do not have to actually do research because all we have to do is go to "google" and type in the topic and an abundance of results appear. That triggered a question that I used to ask myself when I was in middle and high school. How come the all of the top students are usually foreigners? My theory is that because the countries that these indiviudals come from are poor countries and they are deprived of the technological advancement that would make them lazy. Instead of just placing a topic into a search engine and get a variety of results, they have to refer to a reference book. I think that is why a lot of older people say that we have it so easy because a lot of things that they had to memorize when they were younger is just given to us. Overall, technology is a crutch and it is only to get worst.

Gentrification

Gentrification appears to be a good thing but there is one thing but there are other factors to consider. For instance, what is going to happen to the residence can not afford to move elsewhere? I watch a video on YouTube about gentrification of the pier in the village in New York and how the individuals that go there are being affected. The majority of the people that goes there are of homosexual or lesbian orientation and they do not understand why there being ran away from the popular hangout spot. Again, boundaries were showing it ugly head.

I watch another video where individuals that are trying to assist those that are in the neighborhoods that going through the process of gentrification. The worker was speaking about what is happening to the residence of the area. There were a couple of comments made on the video and it was from individuals that clearly did not understand what those what was happening to people because they made ignorant comments. One comment said " Yuppie killa" and another said that the people should stop doing crack, get a job, and other disturbing things that almost made me want to respond to his or her comment. No one wants to live in poverty and that person said it like it was a life choice.

Overall, gentrification can be a good thing if there are opportunities are provided for the residence that resides there.

Louis Wirth “The Ghetto”

Louis Wirth’s “The Ghetto”, he talks about the difference between “ghettos” and “enclaves”. He describes the ghetto as tend to expand, dulysegragated, negative, enforced, slums, and dangerous. In contrast, he describes enclaves as diluted, residual w/leftovers, positive, voluntary, and touristic. Wirth also talks about there are three stages before one is totally assimilated. The first stage is the immigrants that come to America that was born elsewhere. The second stage is the immigrants that are born here but has only somewhat integrated. The final stage is when the next generation born is entirely integrated. Wirth states that the “melting-pot” is being replaced by the “pluralist model”. The “pluralist model” is that the groups that are migrating to the U. S are not assimilating as fast as they used to in the past. Instead of the groups going through the assimilation steps, they are holding onto their cultural traditions longer. It was believed that African American was going to assimilate soon or later but it has been numerous years and it has not happened.