RESPONSE TO A TOPIC #1: The people of Omelas “were not simple folk, not dulcet

shepherds, noble savages, bland utopians". The people of Omelas were also described as
"mature, intelligent, passionate adults," who did not let other things bother them. They
did not depend on government or technology to make them happy in their society; it
seems as if the villagers were able to do pretty much as they pleased and no one
questioned each other as to the effect if would have on another. The child in the basement
was a symbol of "happiness" to them because they felt if he was shown some level of
hospitality and comforted that, "in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and
delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed." None of the inhabitants, especially the
adults had any guilt about this one child’s complete misery for the town’s sake. They just
knew that it was the way it was supposed to be and it would be taboo if they brought the
child out of the basement. Those that disagreed with it would leave the city and never
return.
I think as a society we always live our lives at the expense of something else. For
example, we may be self absorbed and decide that something that has been planned for
several months with a spouse or loved one and decide you don't want to do that
thing because you want to fulfill your own wants and happiness and it's not that important
to you. It is also easy for a person to look at someone that is homeless and automatically
disregard them as not being a participant in society so why should they be helped.
The Omelas culture was definitely different from ours due to the fact that we enjoy
technology, government and order in our society. However, like the people of Omelas,
we lives our lives at the expense of others with less than us, either here in our country or
in other countries throughout the world.

RESPONSE TO ANOTHER STUDENT #1: You make some very valid points. Even
though the people of Omelas don't have a government they do have freedom that is
granted. Symbolically by shutting this child in a broom closet they are able to go on with
their lives. As a society we do have government and do have freedom to express our
thoughts and opinions. Even though we would not lock a child in a closet to ensure that
"all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed."
You are correct that we as a society are similar to the Omelas since we do take advantage
of certain opportunities in order to fulfill what we feel is necessary, often a selfish and
greedy mentality.

RESPONSE TO A TOPIC #2
I was quite surprised that the answers to each of the questions in the quiz on page 21 were
false. I answered "true" to four of the ten questions and was intrigued to find out where
my "common sense" was opposite of the actual truth. It reinforced the fact that my own
assumptions and individual perspective are not accurate filters when it comes to arriving
at a conclusion to a sociological question. It made me think for a moment on where that
"common sense" had come from, what had helped me formulate those ideas. I think it has
to do with how I was raised and how the media I am exposed to presents biased opinions
on certain topics, such as "couples who live together before marriage are usually more
satisfied with their marriages than couples who do not live together before marriage".
This is a general assumption, and one that if I took a moment to think or ask a few
questions, might have a different answer than I had assumed. It made me think about how
quick I am to respond to a question based on ideas floating around in my head that I'm
not even sure where they came from. I need to be a little more careful to have informed
opinions instead of just piggybacking off of someone else's assumptions.
In watching the Milgram experiment on obedience, it became clear quickly that the
research he was conducting could be violating ethics due to the fact that he was causing
distress to those "teaching" by making them shock someone and cause increasing
amounts of pain. On page 29 of the text, it states that "another ethical guideline is that
research subjects should generally be informed that they are being studied and never be
harmed by the research." This research violated the last half of that statement, as it
harmed those being researched by causing them distress. In the Stanford Prison Study,
ethics were violated in the same manner, as the "prisoners" were mistreated by the
"guards" on a continual basis, using everything from push-ups to harassment to fire
extinguishers being fired into their cells in their attempts at control.
In the Humphreys study, research ethics were seemingly violated when "Humphreys
took on the role of watchqueen" and thereby misrepresented himself. The text states that
"although not all sociologists agree, it is generally considered unethical for researchers to
misrepresent themselves." It could also be argued that he violated ethics when he didn't
inform the men that they were being studied and interviewed in association with the tea
rooms, instead "disguising himself with a different hairstyle and clothing, Humphreys
visited the men's home. He interviewed the men, supposedly for the medical study."

RESPONSE TO ANOTHER STUDENT #2:

This movie actually made me think of the conflict theory. The book states that conflict
theorists stress that, “Society is composed of groups that are competing with one another
for scarce resources.” There was a major power struggle going on between the humans
and the machines. The machines, is this case are at the top of the food chain and are
actually using the humans for food. They had most of the power and were hell bent on
keeping it that way by letting the humans live in a dream while they fed off their energy.
On the other side you had the “free” humans who were struggling to get power from the
machines. Society is the way it is because the powerful (the machines) want it to be that
way. In this case society is not set up for the good of all but for the good of the powerful.
I have to honestly say though, after seeing the, “real world” and what a dark dangerous
place it was, I would definitely rather stay in the dream. What would you choose? Would
you be able to free your mind and completely destroy everything you’ve ever believed to
be real, or would stay in the dream world?