People often see things differently
For the Recognize Perspectives section of my portfolio I chose the Gender Roles essay that I wrote out for my English 1302 class. This essay shows how people in today’s society view how men are supposed to “act” and how women are supposed to “act.” This shows that the perspective of society can be wrong at times and not everything conforms to the ways of this world. There isn’t a set way to act in society but what people have been told all their lives gives them a certain perspective on how things are “supposed to be.”
Also for this section I chose my Plunkitt of Tammany Hall assignment that was done in History 1302. This was an assignment in which I had to read a book that was written by William L. Riordon talking about his perspective on politics. He opened the eyes of many people by showing them how he saw a better way of doing things. His perspective on things opened my eyes as well and showed me not to be so closed-minded.
Juan Granados
Professor David Tomas Martinez
English 1302-Tues. &Thurs.
12 April 2012
Gender Roles
Roles in society play a big part of how things are done and the way they are accomplished. Gender roles are one example of this; take the average man. Men, as viewed by society, are strong, independent, and providers. Men are often told that “big boys don’t cry,” but why? This is because our society has formed the idea that men are to be strong, independent providers and therefore not expressive of their inner emotions because that shows dependency and therefore weakness. However, I chose two videos, “Rocketeer” and “Shed a Tear,” which go against society’s idea of masculinity, showing that men can cry, can care, and are able to express their emotions.
In the video, “Rocketeer” The man who is in a relationship has to deal with his girlfriend leaving because of a job that she has to take. From there the video shows him going out of his way to find a way to go where she is going. Furthermore this shows that the man cares so much for this girl meaning that in society; men are willing to go out of their way for a girl whom they “love.” In some instances going after a girl that you “love” doesn’t work because things might happen along the way that make the feelings go away, in other words, puppy love can fade away. Many times you see kids leave school or something important for “the one” only to be broken and finally realizing that they indeed messed up. However there are instances when men can go after the girl they “love” and actually end up with them. All this shows that no matter the outcome of things men care. Men aren’t the tough brick walls that show no emotion, but in fact can care more than women to the point that they will go out of their way and drop everything for people they care about. Moreover the stereotype that men are ruthless and care about themselves is not the case at all.
Crying is something that men hate to do. So many people, including women, have drilled the idea that “big boys don’t cry,” or, “shake it off.” All of this makes men into a sort of cyborg and toughens them up. It has come to a point that showing emotions like crying makes you a “fag” and getting made fun of comes right along with it. Also one reason why men dislike crying is because of the women in their lives who have shaped that idea. In this society; women want a strong masculine man who can hurt someone when necessary and can make them feel extremely secure. As these women find men who meet their expectations of masculinity, they turn around and teach their sons this and thus starting the cycle over again. Crying can be seen as something that will destroy a man’s ego and men are always “at risk.” Men are “at risk” because they are always trying to not be seen as, “gay,” “fag,” “homo,” or any other derogatory statement that lowers the self-esteem of men. However the video “Shed a Tear” has a variety of YouTube stars expressing how it’s okay to cry, but they express it through song. To go deeper with this you can come to the conclusion that if any other person were to do this and put it anywhere on the internet he would forever get made fun of and would be severely insulted by almost everyone who come across the video. The fact that this video is made by big time You Tube stars shows that no one will give them crap for it and since they are very well-respected they don’t have to worry about their image as much. Furthermore theses You Tube stars dealt with an issue of today in a comedic matter. The way they handled it eased the pain of the issue while addressing the problem head on.
This comes to the point where men can care more openly. Men have always cared and will continue to care. No matter what happens in life and how hard a man looks he cares to the utmost extent. In our society we can see that men are what women like to call, “assholes” because they don’t care enough. Well men care it just depends on how it is being shown. For example if a woman leaves a man and she sees that he looks perfectly okay with it she gets mad and dubs him to be a careless, emotionless, asshole. However, this is not the case. If that situation ever happened to a guy he would be extremely devastated and would hate himself. If a man truly cares about a woman and she leaves he would go absolutely ballistic. This goes the same for friends or family members. Yes, emotions can be hidden but that is only because society has made that happen, but men aren’t heartless. Caring is the one thing men do a lot but it’s also the one thing that men cannot express.
In this society it seems to be wrong for men to express too many feelings, to cry, and abnormal to care. No wonder why women who are mistreated by them are downing them. Men only portray what society wants them to be like so why is it wrong?
Juan Granados
Dr. Olivares
M/W 8:30-10:00
2/22/12
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall
- William L. Riordon wrote this book because he found that, “Their absolute frankness and vigorous unconventionality of thought and expression charmed me.” Furthermore he is trying to justify machine politics to not only the United States, but to the people of the world, “I thought it a pity to let Plunkitt’s revelations of himself – as frank in their way as Rousseau’s Confessions – perish in the files of the newspapers; so I collected the talks I had published, added several new ones, and now give to the world in this volume a system of political philosophy which is as unique as it is refreshing.” (Preface of Plunkitt of Tammany Hall)
- The posed threat of the Urban Bosses is that a lot of them practiced dishonest graft which landed them in jail or some sort of other predicament.
- Plunkitt answers those threats by continuing to practice honest graft and landing himself big money, and he cannot get in trouble since there is no fault in what he does.
- The author distinguishes between honest and dishonest graft by giving us examples of the two and explaining how he is practicing honest graft because he’s, “Seen” his “opportunities and took ‘em” Which justifies him becoming a wealthy man since he buys property that he knows the city will need later on.
- The machines do adequately address the needs of urban residents because in Plunkitt of Tammany Hall it has a statement about how if you don’t take care of friends then you aren’t popular.
- What works in a political machine is the fact that you can talk and relate to people without have to learn all that “College rot” however, what doesn’t work in a political machine is the fact that people will try to get rid of you like the urban bosses.
- The alternatives to this type of community institution is to stop the bosses from practicing graft, and to let the government take over, and do it their way.
- Tammany Hall operates by having a leader of the organization and instead of reciting a whole bunch of speeches to try to sound like a good candidate they take a rather different approach, “If I had offered him a speech or a bookful of learnin’, he would have said, “Oh, forget it!”
- The problems with machine politics is sometimes people may go against whoever is running since the machines don’t always have a college background and the “college education” to back up what they are saying.
- One better solution to urban problems would be to keep the “Urban Bosses” so that things wouldn’t go downhill, “but have you ever thought what would become of the country if the bosses were put out of business, and their places were taken by a lot of cart-tail orators and college graduates? It would mean chaos. It would be just like takin’ a lot of dry-goods clerks and settin’ them to run express trains on the New York Central Railroad.”
- William L. Riordon is a man who “thought it a pity to let Plunkitt’s revelations of himself – as frank in their way as Rousseau’s Confessions – perish in the files of the newspapers” he found George Washington Plunkitt to be a very interesting man so it was no problem for him to “collected the talks I had published, added several new ones, and now give to the world in this volume a system of political philosophy which is as unique as it is refreshing.” (preface)
- In my opinion I believe that George Washington Plunkitt was an honorable politician because he, in no way, did an injustice to anyone and even practiced honest graft. As he plainly stated, “I seen my opportunities and took ‘em”
- I as the reader I did enjoy the reading because Plunkitt talks about his story and how he got to the position that he was in, “Now, in conclusion, I want to say that I don’t own a dishonest dollar. If my worst enemy was given the job of writin’ my epitaph when I’m gone, he couldn’t do more than write: “George W. Plunkitt. He Seen His Opportunities, and He Took ‘Em.”
juangranadosportfolio 