AMETH 300 Blog

 This past week I've been studying conflict styles and learned about the one I usually use to confront conflict in my life. As I learned more about the different ways to engage and deal with conflict, I decided it would be interesting to go talk to someone close to me, but about something we don't see eye-to-eye about.  I picked my girlfriend because we know each other, probably better than anyone else, and yet we have disagreements about certain things and like to talk about them. We hang out all the time, so these topics naturally come up in our conversations. One particular thing that we have disagreements about is the fact that she cares a lot about animals and could never kill an animal. She believes that all life is important and I on the other hand don't really mind animal deaths. I told her once I would let a hundred dogs and cats die just to save one person, because I think humans inherently hold more value than other animals. It's difficult to talk about becau...

 This last week I discovered what my predominant conflict style is. I am primarily competitive, meaning I normally look to see what would benefit me most in a situation and work towards a resolution based on that. I would say that is usually accurate, as I typically have my own interests in mind first. However, there were two other conflict styles that were right behind competition, those being collaboration and accommodation. I would say this is true too, because I often find myself thinking of others during conflict as well and trying to make sure everyone wins if possible. I guess if it came down to myself or others I would have to be swayed or make a conscious decision to put others first, since I naturally put myself first. As I move into my future careers, I think this will benefit me for competitive reasons. I may be able to obtain better positions or have my voice be heard over others, but that means that I may be seen as a little more distant or selfish since I'm not a rea...

 This week I watched a show called "We Are The Champions" on Netflix. It's a show about various types of people with weird talents and it basically covers different competitions between these people in a documentary style. This particular episode followed spicy pepper eaters, who flew in from all around the world to compete in a head-to-head pepper eating competition hosted in South Carolina. Most of the people who attended this event looked like mostly white, lower to middle class southern families.  However, in terms of the competitors are concerned, there was an equal representation of men, women, orientations, and cultural backgrounds in this competition. There were a few key celebrities in the pepper eating community; one being a white man who is a self-described daredevil and spicy food enthusiast. He owns a Youtube channel and has a relatively high following. Another character is a transgender woman with an Asian wife who took all of the hate and discrimination she...