Norviel's Positive View on What It All Has to Do with Us

1. Johnson's main idea for the piece What It All Has to Do with Us is that even though if we do not realize it or purposely allow the fact that racism, sexism, and homophobia happen around us, we are in fact a part of it. Just because we are not the ones who are intentionally inflicting these bias opinions and actions upon others does not mean that we are not at all part of this ongoing problem.

2. This writing is about how everyone, even the silent person plays a major role in how others are treated. Just because we do not negatively about other groups like other people do, by not doing anything about it at all in fact does do a lot. As in Johnson's example of not purposely buying shirts from other countries that are paying the workers very little for their labor of the shirts, by not ceasing to buy these items is in a way saying that you support the people who believe it is o.k. to pay these overworked women and children little for what they do. People are afraid to stand out from other people, and feel most comfortable just blending in with the rest of the world, Johnson calls this "the path of least resistance". He exemplifies this path when talking about his experience of riding on an elevator facing backwards, which he could tell was causing people to feel uncomfortable and weird being in this situation. People act differently depending on the situation they are in. While playing Monopoly the author describes his total change in personality going from someone who in his normal everyday life as someone who is nice and not greedy, to someone who wants to control the board and take everything from everyone else. He says this is because that is what the game is meant for, so in other words people act in a way that they are supposed to based on the situation they are presented in.

3. Why do people feel so forced to blend in? What is wrong with being different and standing out? How is it decided on what is socially acceptable and what is not?

4. I enjoyed this reading. I felt that Johnson used very good examples that people could understand and relate to. He made his points clear with these examples making the reading continue to hold my attention. I found the topic and his views both to be interesting, because this writing is on something that I have not really ever given much thought about before, even though it is something that everyone encounters on a daily basis. The reading was short but yet still held a lot of information that was easy to understand and enjoyable to read.