HW 34 - The Cool Pose and Various Approaches to Life Rooted in Class, Race, Gender, Age, etc.

"We real cool. We/ Left school. We/ Lurk late. We/ Strike straight. We/ Sing sin. We/ Thin gin. We/ Jazz June. We/ Die soon." (Brooks)

According to this, people try hard to make an image of themselves that their peers approve of. They have this edgy image that they do what they want becuase life is short. It seems as though the reason certain races are statistically not as successful as others is becuase they are not willing to give up their image that they worked hard for.Patterson says "the "cool-pose culture" of young black men was simply too gratifying to give up... it was almost like a drug, hanging out on the street after school, shopping and dressing sharply, sexual conquests, party drugs, hip-hop music and culture, the fact that almost all the superstar athletes and a great many of the nation's best entertainers were black." They earn the respect they get from their peers and they do not want to lose that respect by disappointing them if that means trying to get a good education to be "successful," if they do well they are "acting white" and that is looked down upon as unauthentic.

Continuing to discuss the "cool" pose and the choice for success, Patterson says,"Nor have studies explained why, if someone cannot get a job, he turns to crime and drug abuse. One does not imply the other. Joblessness is rampant in Latin America and India, but the mass of the populations does not turn to crime." This makes me think that because America is "the land of the free" and the hope for opportunity, everyone who comes here or lives here has this predetermined expectation that they will become something important. I think that this expectation is an influence to the way teenagers want to be cool. They want some sort of social status, especially the minorities because they are the ones marginalized against so they feel the need to work harder to feel important and accepted even if that means turning to crime. It seems that there is more pressure in America to be something than in other countries.

So who is to blame for this? The American way of life? Is it the parents? or their peers? society?, "cultural explanations inherently blame the victim; that they focus on internal behavioral factors and, as such, hold people responsible for their poverty, rather than putting the onus on their deprived environment." People are first to blame the victim because they should have done better for themselves there are more factors to take into account. The influences they grew up with, the people they look up to, the environment they grew up in all affects the choices they make and defines the frame of their map.

I believe that people make their decisions based on how they were raised and what people expect of them. They themselves may agree with these decisions because the way they were raised determines their map, but over time, one might begin to see the reality of their decisions and their "map." They may want to change their "map" but as we discussed in class today(1/12/10) it is harder for us to change ourselves than for something to happen to us to change us. So we may realize this change but because we are so stuck in our old habits, we wait around for something to happen to us for this change to occur. Is this an effective way of changing maps or should we try to change ourselves and face a high chance of failure?