Reflection

For my documentary project I watched the film Cartel Land directed by Matthew Heineman.
1) A scene that really stuck out to me was near the end of the film when Dr. Morales had given up on his movement and was arrested. My mother knew more about the story behind this part, she said that the officials claimed they would not even feed him so he can die a slow death. My mother said the government is corrupt over there and they are even for the cartels as they help them in many ways. This angers me so much because this means that nobody is going to be able to stop this except for the people of the towns themselves. But people are scared, and those that do stand up are taken away -- by the cartels, by the police, by the government.

2) Something that surprised me is really just the whole idea of the film and how it was even possible to get so up close to all the action and especially the drug makers. The filmmakers were determined to get the best shoots to show the world what is going on and how corrupt things are. I was also very shocked when the police showed up saying that the auto defenses were scaring the people and they would be disarmed. The people began to show up and yell at the police to show them that they are proud supporters of the auto defenses and they want them to stay. The people were able to get the police to go away.

3) After viewing this film I felt sad and angry. I do not understand how the government can betray their people. Why and how did it happen where the cartels began to be in charge. I do not have any experience with this type of situation but my uncle and his family have been in danger. My uncle has his own fruit shop in Mexico and his business has grown so much over the years but that means he is becoming wealthier so now he is a target. My uncle has received many threats and for about a year he had to take his family into hiding to protect them from danger.

Some problematic concepts I saw in the film was how the people said that the police do nothing to help them and how there are all these different branches of police but they all do nothing when it comes to cartels. Another is people, innocent people are being killed and kidnapped because they are related to the person the cartels are targeting. I felt a bit disturbed when I saw that the vigilantes by the border are hunting down the cartels but when they run into coyotes they turn them in. I know it is wrong to cross the border but I just had an odd feeling seeing this. I did not like that the drug makers said that if they did not have to do what they do they would have clean jobs but it is not possible and there will always be drug trafficking. This is just another part of the film that I do not agree with and I believe that they do not have to do these things, as if maybe they took the easy way out.

Understanding the Spectrum of Social classes

This week I have been putting my last blog into more thought as I shared it with many of my friends and family members. What I noticed was quite extraordinary to me and it was simply that some readers completely understood and related to what I was talking about -- others did not seem to pick up on the point of what was said. I believe because I am a psychology major that this difference intrigued me quite a bit especially because I felt as if this was a major discovery for myself in my own life. This topic became very important to me as I began to bring it up in more conversations to see the different reactions that I might get. Finally, with my unwritten data, I came to the same friends I originally had this conversation with and further discussed the situation.
I began to tell my friends how odd some of these reactions were that I was receiving: not bad reactions just not understanding. I said how could this be, one of my friends said he had hung out with this large more privileged group of kids a few times and explained to me that they see the world completely different than we do. I had no idea what he was talking about but I wanted to understand so I asked him for an example and he told me he could not explain it that I just had to be there to see. He continued to say that the people that did not understand my blog could be the people from the other side of the spectrum: they do not understand it because they have never experienced anything like it.
I felt desperate to understand what was so different in the way a privileged person might see the world versus someone that is not but my friend could not put it into words. I thought of something that I had experienced that might be similar. I have been buying my college text books online to find them for a lower price and save money because I am well aware that they can be found at a reduced price. I have met three people in a specific class where the text book is about 200 dollars, these people had their text books so I asked where they got it from for I had not bought mine yet. They all said, "at the bookstore" and I asked how much they paid for it thinking there may have been a discount but they paid full price. One of the girls continued to complain about how expensive the books are and I began to inform her she can find them cheaper online, she told me she knew. These people know they can buy these books for less and are complaining about the price but they went and bought the book at full price. Why is this, I began to wonder, could it just be they were to lazy and did not want to wait. My friend said yes that is how some of these people see the world, they have the money for these things and get away with so much and it does not even cause a dent in them. He told me one of his friends parked in an invalid parking spot and his car got towed, when he went to pick up his car he began to yell at the worker. The angry boy said, "How could you do this to me, I am only a teenager, how do you think I will have 200 dollars to pay for this!" my friend was very thrown off by all of this. Once everything was situated he asked his more privileged friend if you knew there was a consequence to parking there so why did you do it and now that you did how are you going to get angry at the man behind the desk for your own error.
This is so interesting to me because I start to realize how different the way and situations people grew up in make them see the world from completely different points of view. Not only this but in some cases these points of view are not understanding to the other sides and this causes ignorance and problems in the world that are so impossible to believe. For example, President Trump has been making some serious decisions that are impacting the lives of certain types of people majorly in a negative way. People say he is crazy to say and do these things, but could it be that he simply does not understand the other side of the spectrum? Could it be that because he was raised as a privileged man with money that he grew up on what could be considered "the better side" of the spectrum and because of this he just does not understand the view of someone less privileged not only in money but race, color, all of these things that create a different point of view.
I am left with many questions about this topic that I am eager to find answers to. I have a drive to go spend time with not only people of the privileged group but also a complete other side of the spectrum, homeless people; to better understand their views and with this I will better understand the differences between groups. I will continue to tell this story to people and gain new thoughts and views for my ultimate goal with this topic is to find a balance and help all sides understand each other.
Thank you for reading my thoughts from outer space. Consider blasting off to space your self, to open your mind as you see the world from far away.

economic status

Last week I had some time to catch up with a few friends that I met back in high school. We began to talk about prom and how there was a friend group who rented out cabins for the prom weekend. Not that it mattered anymore, but I expressed my thoughts on how I had never seen such a large friend group and how it seemed like I never qualified to be in that specific group. I had even had a conversation with a girl that was in that friend group once saying how I felt as if maybe I was just not "cool" enough. As I brought this up one of my friends looked me in the eye with a bit of sorrow and sadly said, "money". At that moment it hit me, how I am always so aware of the economic and social spectrum that I naively never thought to view my own place in it. Yes me along with most of my friends fall in the middle or lower class. But how could this be that because of a piece of paper the world believes so much in, I cannot fit in with a group of people?
The thing is that these people they have nothing against me, they do not hate less wealthy people -- it just happens to be that we do not even get the chance to connect because of this barrier. This realization made me feel a bit sad and upset at the world for being the way it is, but then my friend later said, "Well, sure they get everything handed to them but be grateful because you are much more responsible and you have friends that care". I know this is not always the case but I understood what she meant. The girl I had conversed with months ago about how I was not cool enough, she told me that she enjoys being in the large friend group but that there is a major downside. She said she never gets to talk things out like she had with me that day, that she feels lonely because those friends are not there for her and they talk about the dumbest things that have no meaning.
I applied all this to what is going on in my life today and where I stand among my peers. Last week was my first week at college and I have to say I love it here. Everyone is so focused and in their own bubble to make sure they can be successful in class. I have met a lot of new people so far: people looking for study groups or homework help as well as classmates who just want to be friends. What I have come to see in my first week of college is that here people are not really looking for social or economic class. People here are looking for connections, help, and support-- a place where the mind is far more valuable than a piece of paper.
Thank you for reading my thoughts from outer space and remember you are a star!