Reddit mentions of Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials

I'm not your pal, buddy.

There are better ways to use a phrase that's been in society's collective lexicon for ages? How so? I'm not changing the way in which I speak because it was misinterpreted. And as we go back and forth on this we stray further from actual, important issues that we should be talking about in this comment section, like sexism and harassment and privilege, and how society has had a hand in institutionalizing a lot of these ideas.

Do i believe that Anita attacking Sargon was the right thing to do in this instance? No. Do I, however, believe that Sargon and co. were there for nefarious reasons? Of course they were. Their presence obviously intimidated Anita, and that is completely justifiable; to use a well-trodden anecdote, imagine going to a public event only to find your childhood bully there as well, wouldn't you feel a bit intimidated, at least at first? How Anita handled herself is a whole other thing, and I believe she handled herself poorly, but Sargon knew what he was doing and, speculation or not, I believe that to be true.

Boogie's interaction with Anita is, again, a whole other can of worms. Based on your comment history, you seem to have the idea that all problems are of the same caliber, and while I can see why it's incredibly easy to get behind that idea, picture in your mind some of the things I, a straight white male, can do in everyday life: I can talk to anyone I please without having slurs thrown at me; I can walk down the street without being catcalled; I've been able to get married to the opposite sex since before I was born or even knew I wanted to marry the opposite sex. These are, again, all anecdotal examples, but the point I'm making is that yes, because I was born into a middle-class, white family, and was born a male, I have advantages laid out before me that other people don't. My "rock-bottom" in life is several floors above other people's ceilings. In modern society you'd be remiss to deny that basic fact. It is for that reason that we should acknowledge that not everyone's problems are the same; we make "first world problems" into a meme, but it's based on the idea that the things people in first world countries complain about are way less serious than the problems of third world countries. Similarly, to say that the problems a white male has and the problems a black woman has are the same is just plain wrong.

I'd highly recommend giving Sociology in our Times: The Essentials, by Diana Kendall, a read. All of my info comes from there, as well as from personal experience and living life thus far. Published in 2015, it's the most recent textbook used widespread in the field, and you could possibly garner some new insights by reading and studying it. I certainly did.