It's sad to see Canada selling education and castrating the curriculum. From higher university costs right down to elementary schools selling over priced crud for lunches. Capitalism should have no place in our education system, period. Canada if you want to lower illiteracy, poverty and crime than take these financial vices off your youth and their families.I thought this "free" society left the days of education for the wealthy behind. Why are you repeating histories fuck ups?
Stop being bleeding heart, "politically correct", liberal d-bags. Dr.Seuss teaches our children valuable life lessons, why are you pulling him out? So what if one or two snot nosed parents with carbon rods up their a-holes get offended. If they hate the fact that their kids develop critical thinking skills, than home school them. Oh so you have Muslim children in your classroom and won't celebrate Christmas? Do it anyway, if little Bopender's parents don't agree; they can keep him ignorant of other cultures than make him stay home.
It comes down to hippocracy Canada. You want the education system to be peace loving, happy pappy, health crazed and "politically correct", were everyone has an equal chance to get an education that's rich and fulfilling. Yet you monitor literature, food and religion like Stalin. Canada you throw ridiculous costs at the students and parents who have no choice in what educational institution they are involved with. Simply, God dammit Canada! Get your head out of your ass.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
A Sociological Look at the Saskatoon Zombie Walk
My first University paper...Read it at your own risk :p
Earlier this month I had the chance to attend The Saskatoon Zombie Walk which was part of the Dark Bridges Film Festival. People came to not only dress up as zombies but to take on the zombie’s iconic shambling horde mentality and walked from Kiwanis Memorial Park, over the Broadway Bridge and ended at the Broadway theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. While walking amongst the horde of “walking dead” I was curious to know what compelled all these people to dress up like corpses and shuffle up the Broadway Bridge, moaning and howling. Through reflection and research I have come to understand that these phenomena are a great example of Emilie Durkheim’s theories of Social Currents and Social Facts.
Durkheim’s theory of Social Currents can be described as ‘Facts without such crystallized forms which have the same objectivity and the same ascendancy over the individual’. In other words social currents are the emotions or values within a group that have power over the individual. In the case of the zombie walk the ‘social current’ is the almost assimilated emotions and personas of the individuals or “zombies”, regardless of their lives outside of the zombie walk. It should also be noted that the social currents displayed by the mass of “ghouls” were not displayed by the onlookers outside of the social group.
According to Durkheim’s theory, social facts are ‘to be considered as things that are external to the individual, and that are capable of exercising coercive power over him or her.’ One could also say this means the fundamental values and ideology of society, which exist as entities beyond the individual and are unchanging, yet still directly affect the individual.
This theory is displayed by two definitive factors during the zombie walk. The first factor is the lack of noticeable change to match the social current within the group of “zombies” by the observing individuals, displaying how social fact is separate of the individual but still affects the individual directly. The second is an example of how social facts are evident by the change in the participants of the walk, as they reverted back to their original behavior as the walk reached the Broadway theatre. The relationship between the social fact, being the common sense idea that “zombies do not exist”, is stronger than the social current displayed by the zombie walk, “zombies do exist”. Furthermore the social fact proves itself unchanged by the social current, because the ‘mass mind’ aspect of the social current being displayed by the walkers, did not affect the onlookers who knew “zombies do not exist”. Social fact is also displayed in the change of social behavior from “zombies do exist” to “zombies do not exist”, as they reached their destination.
Social facts are unchanged by social currents. However for a short time the social current “zombies do exist” altered the social fact for the group of individuals participating in the zombie walk. This shows that social currents can alter the social facts of the group or ‘mass mind’; but the social current cannot directly change the social fact.
From relating my observations of the Saskatoon Zombie Walk to Emilie Durkheim’s theories, one can understand the relationship held between social facts and social currents. A social fact is like a simple organism with removable parts made up of social currents. In this case the organism was “zombies do not exist” and “zombies do exist” belong to the idea that one can take away, or add other parts to the organism but the organism itself remains unchanged.
Earlier this month I had the chance to attend The Saskatoon Zombie Walk which was part of the Dark Bridges Film Festival. People came to not only dress up as zombies but to take on the zombie’s iconic shambling horde mentality and walked from Kiwanis Memorial Park, over the Broadway Bridge and ended at the Broadway theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. While walking amongst the horde of “walking dead” I was curious to know what compelled all these people to dress up like corpses and shuffle up the Broadway Bridge, moaning and howling. Through reflection and research I have come to understand that these phenomena are a great example of Emilie Durkheim’s theories of Social Currents and Social Facts.
Durkheim’s theory of Social Currents can be described as ‘Facts without such crystallized forms which have the same objectivity and the same ascendancy over the individual’. In other words social currents are the emotions or values within a group that have power over the individual. In the case of the zombie walk the ‘social current’ is the almost assimilated emotions and personas of the individuals or “zombies”, regardless of their lives outside of the zombie walk. It should also be noted that the social currents displayed by the mass of “ghouls” were not displayed by the onlookers outside of the social group.
According to Durkheim’s theory, social facts are ‘to be considered as things that are external to the individual, and that are capable of exercising coercive power over him or her.’ One could also say this means the fundamental values and ideology of society, which exist as entities beyond the individual and are unchanging, yet still directly affect the individual.
This theory is displayed by two definitive factors during the zombie walk. The first factor is the lack of noticeable change to match the social current within the group of “zombies” by the observing individuals, displaying how social fact is separate of the individual but still affects the individual directly. The second is an example of how social facts are evident by the change in the participants of the walk, as they reverted back to their original behavior as the walk reached the Broadway theatre. The relationship between the social fact, being the common sense idea that “zombies do not exist”, is stronger than the social current displayed by the zombie walk, “zombies do exist”. Furthermore the social fact proves itself unchanged by the social current, because the ‘mass mind’ aspect of the social current being displayed by the walkers, did not affect the onlookers who knew “zombies do not exist”. Social fact is also displayed in the change of social behavior from “zombies do exist” to “zombies do not exist”, as they reached their destination.
Social facts are unchanged by social currents. However for a short time the social current “zombies do exist” altered the social fact for the group of individuals participating in the zombie walk. This shows that social currents can alter the social facts of the group or ‘mass mind’; but the social current cannot directly change the social fact.
From relating my observations of the Saskatoon Zombie Walk to Emilie Durkheim’s theories, one can understand the relationship held between social facts and social currents. A social fact is like a simple organism with removable parts made up of social currents. In this case the organism was “zombies do not exist” and “zombies do exist” belong to the idea that one can take away, or add other parts to the organism but the organism itself remains unchanged.
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