It’s funny how some of the biggest ironies happen, of all places, in Sociology class. Despite the fact that there’s a ton of terminology and a lot of theories and who said whats, it’s the environment that captivates me the most. Take one example my TA shared with my class the past Friday, but first a little background. Understand, before you proceed, that my Sociology is a Turkish woman, and keep that in mind. Almost all the classes here use a website called compass, where teachers post all the assignments for submission, announcements for classes, grades, etc., and where for every class, there is a link where students can openly discuss the class and help one another with, say, homework assignments and such. The only catch? Your professors see everything that you post on there; they are sort of the moderators of the forum. My TA informed us that over the past week there was a comment from one of the students in that aforementioned discussion section suggesting that the professor dial down the volume of her music videos, as my professor often showed clips of Turkish music videos as an icebreaker prior to the start of lecture each day. Nothing big up to this point, just a simple request, except if I stopped here that would make this story absolutely pointless, so I shall continue. Another fellow student saw this newly made comment, and responded by suggesting the original student to either come into class later, or bring his own music to listen to, that it was really the professor’s choice what she wanted to play before class. And this is when things turn for the worse. The original student comments back, saying, “I’m just trying to tell that Kurd to turn it down.” If red flags aren’t flying in your head yet or you’re not chuckling at the, no offense, original guy, stupidity of such a comment, at least understand the irony that this happens in a discussion forum for a SOCIOLOGY class that just happened to have gotten through a week on race and ethnicity. Idiocy in its prime, to say the least. I mean, as much as I would like to disagree with some of the overtly feminist ideas she tries to push on us, acts like this is just academic suicide. To the guy who made this comment, please, learn to shut up and gain some self-control. Seriously.

Like I said, this post is all about ironies, but here is where it takes a turn. I spent a lot of time yesterday talking with a friend about this whole idea of “going deeper”, and thanks to another friend who asked me exactly what on earth that meant, I realized I hadn’t actually defined it myself. So for now, let’s just say that “going deeper” means discussing with a friend about more than what meets the eye, beyond the normal greetings and salutations, to a degree where vulnerability is required and where if this vulnerability is rejected by the receiving party, could be disastrous for the party sharing and opening him or herself up. With that said, the realization from yesterday was that Christians, and to some degree people in general nowadays, do not generally spend time “going deeper”. And of course, this is a mere generalization (I’m sure somewhere my Sociology professor is probably flipping out about my going against her whole idea about how generalizations are inaccurate.), there are definitely countless examples to oppose this generalization, yet let’s face it, I’m sure many of you get exactly just what I’m talking about. In the non-christian realm today, there’s rarely a conversation that extends beyond the realm of music (Taylor Swift, Kanye, ABDC), gossip (who’s hot, who’s not), sex (getting laid, meeting this chick, that guy, hooking up), liquor (Jello shots, Beer Pong). I mean, who still talks about their feelings? Some do, I’m sure, but not many. Today, for example, I sat in my normal Sociology lecture, yet I couldn’t help concentrate because of what was happening in the row in front of me. A girl had her laptop with her, browsing through a site called “CollegeACB” , an anonymous forum for forty-five minutes where people post information like “Who’s a frat house slut and name them” and “Which house smokes pot the most?”. I don’t know about you, but for me that was quite the depressing sight to see. This is, sadly, what our world has become, or rather deteriorated into. Again, I know it’s merely a generalization and there are exceptions, but I think I have at least seen a good amount of this to make this assumption. And all the time I sat there, realizing how depressing it is, that all that I’ve learned from Sociology class, the influence of mass media, peer groups, suddenly rang loud and clear. It’s one thing to learn about them and then to disagree with a lot of the stuff, but realizing just how true they are? Yikes. I hate the fact that Sociology is right.

The conclusion? Sociology makes me sad, and it definitely amazes me how all you Sociology majors out there deal with all this stuff. It really just ruins my days. Props to you guys.

I used to have this crazy ridiculous theory about Revelation. That God had only (Blasphemy alert!) given John this totally out-there dream to scare the living crap out of the future generations to come (which seriously, it scares me everyday), that 144,000 was some random number that didn’t really matter in the end. I know it sounds stupid, but I always thought that there’s got to be some trick, that that can’t be all whom God will save. I no longer think or even hope that there’s any other reason other than the truth as to why Revelation was written. It doesn’t mean I’ll turn into some heartless person now, but that 144,000 never felt so real and so close until now. It really is a tragedy.

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