Monday, February 2, 2009

Sociological Mindfulness

After I read Schwalbe's Sociological Mindfulness, I was shocked by the way others act and the way that I have acted in the past. I do have to say that I have probably said things or did things in the past that has hurt people indirectly, and I have never known. This article really opened up my eyes to see how our lives are intertwined with each other in ways that we do not realize. I thought it was quit extreme how in the article, Schwalbe made the example of people working in companies that make weapons, cigarettes etc and saying that they indirectly kill or harm the people who buy those products. It is scary to think that a person having a job in a company, like in the making of plane parts, could potentially kill hundreds because their company did not make a part up to par. In the movie Thank You For Smoking, it is an example of how the main character is the spokesman for smoking rights. He is blamed for the dangers of cigarettes, even though he is not directly the one making them, he just speaks for them. Even though I thought it was really extreme to bring this point up, I thought it necessary of Schwalbe to do. I could honestly say I have never thought about this point on how our actions, affect so many other people, that it is scary to even imagine. I also really liked how Schwalbe talked about people paying more attention to the hardships an options other people face. He says we are more likely to show compassion and respect for them. People in society should really think about this, because I have seen it and experienced it too many times when people yell at hard working employees because they are unhappy. All the time at restaurants I see customers yelling at hard working waitresses because they forgot a water or bread. If these people would have had more compassion and be patient, then maybe this person wouldn't be directly hurt. People also have to think about if they ruin that waitress's day, how that waitress will react the rest of the day. Chances are, she will be upset and ruin her customers or her friends days, just because that one customer was rude to her. I really found this article to be really interesting, and hopefully I will become more sociologically mindful in the future.

1 comment:

  1. amanda-
    i totally agree. i think thank you for smoking is a perfect reference. maybe the products are hurting people, but the workers are just trying to do their jobs. i think this relates back to milgrams study on the germans. the nazi were hurting people but they were simply just following orders.