Advanced Essay #4: Social normality and Violence

Intro:

In english, we have been studying violence and militarism. I found this unit to be inspiring. The essay below is about how violence changes life around us and creates an endless cycle. Unlike the past advanced essays, this one is very factual. I feel like this essay should demonstrates a skill for analysis and critical thinking.


Essay:

Violence has a long standing history in society. Violence is ingrained in human nature in many ways. An understanding of violence now plays a key role in many of our social interactions. Some people have even evolved to be more aggressive because as as a society we reward aggression.
One known genetic activity that predisposes people to physical aggression is a low activity form of monoamine oxidase. Monoamine oxidase is an enzyme that deconstructs key neurotransmitters. According to Brown university this is much more common in countries with a history of war. Even though Darwinism isn’t easily applicable to the modern man because of the complexities of human attractions, The fact that this gene can still be found suggest that there is some benefit to aggression in the modern day. And there is. For whatever reason people find aggression to be dominating and it’s often confused for assertive. Although a society such as ours could never condone outright violence between it’s members, a functional type of aggression is encouraged. We see this on Wall Street, where aggression, greed , and a type of barbarism are thought of as the essential qualities of a good stock broker. We see this type of aggression in radical groups, where it’s often confused for passion.
Behavioral evidence of how are sour social interactions have been altered by violence can be seen in the way we treat the natural  phenomenon fight or flight.Most people are familiar with the fight or flight instinct. It’s what compels you to either flee from danger or address it head on. We often reward and cherish the instinct to fight while we shame those who follow the flight instinct. This illustrated in the book “The Things We Carry” by  TIm O’Brien. In the book he states that the primary motivation for fighting in the Vietnam War for many soldiers was, they would be embarrassed not to. They feared being called cowards by their contemporaries. This is profound because of what it says violence in America. Circumstances aside, many of the characters believe pacifism is weakness and something to be ashamed of. This severe and negative connotation seem inherently wrong. Pacifism is objectively beneficial. All major religions agree that pacifism is a virtue. This fear of non-violence is abnormal, but strong in our society. During World War I, a man named Evan Thomas refused to fight because he thought it was immoral. He was court martialed and prosecuted. During his prosecution, a debate about cowardice verse pacifism arose. The prosecutor is quoted as saying “The very foundation of every civilized government from the first beginning of history down to the present time has been based absolutely upon force of arms… Gentlemen, if we don’t punish these cowards who appear in this land like the sore spots on our bodies to the fullest limit of the law, this government cannot survive.”

The image above shows two little boys playing. One is pinned to the wall by the other. The one pinned to the wall has a fake gun pressed to his brow. Both boys are smiling vigorously, but the one on the wall appears to be on the edge of laughter. The image as a whole is a disturbing look at how violence changes social normalities. American culture is saturated in violence. Violence is so present that even children have an intimate relationship with the concept. They grow numb to the sight of gore. Acts of violence become casual or even humorous. The negative effects of childhood exposure to violence are well documented.  Children who are exposed to this violence learn at an early age that some forms of violence are an acceptable way to solve problems.
Intervention with behaviors that model this mentality in their children  fail to suffocate these ideas in the long term. Data from the Department of Justice states that those who are exposed to violence at a young age have an increased risk of falling into criminal activity. Specifically violent crime, which demonstrates a lack of awareness of acceptable social interactions. These people have permanently altered views on social norms which stand to protect us against such violences as rape, petty murder, and assault.
In conclusion, Violence alters social normalities, which in turn allows for  more violence. This creates a positive feedback loop that has the potential to alter human societies in such a way that it affects us on even the most obscure and unexpected ways. We’ve seen it affect us on both a genetic and philosophical level.

Work cited:

Sontag, Susan. "Regarding The Torture Of Others." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 May 2004. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/magazine/regarding-the-torture-of-others.html?_r=1


"African Americans in the Vietnam War." African Americans in the Vietnam War. Illinois University, 20 Dec. 2009. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/stevens/africanamer.htm


O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. New York: Broadway, 1998. Print.


Rose McDermott. "Some People Just Like to Fight." Political Violence a Glance. N.p., 03 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

http://politicalviolenceataglance.org/2014/02/03/some-people-just-like-to-fight/


Thomas, Louisa. "Give Pacifism a Chance." The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 Aug. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/opinion/sunday/what-is-pacifism-good-for.html?_r=0


"Facts about Children and Violence." Facts about Children and Violence. The Department of Justice, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

https://www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood/facts-about-children-and-violence


Advanced Essay #4: Blissfully Violent

My goal for this paper was to explore the cause for gun violence in cities, and what ignorance and privilege has to do with that violence. I chose to focus on gun violence in big cities for two reasons: 1) gun violence is one of the most common forms of violence in big cities, and 2) it seems to disproportionately affect minorities in cities. I wanted to make sure that this paper addressed an issue that I see in a lot of white people. We carry this sense of separation from the violence, despite the fact that it is often happening inside our own cities. 

In 2013, Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church covered the entirety of their lawn in crosses. They were fashioned out of PVC piping and each had a white, red, orange, or beige t-shirt on it. Each shirt had the name of a gun violence victim on it, as well as their age and the day they died. In front of all of these crosses was a sign that read “Philadelphia- highest major-city gun death rate. Where are you, Mayor Nutter?” Each crosses represented one of the 331 people who died because of gun violence in Philadelphia in 2012.


I was thirteen when I drove past this display on my way to my church. I haven’t been able to shake that image from my head. I always knew that Philadelphia is a violent city but I’d been sheltered from just how violent it is. Though I regularly watched the news at night, and I saw the reports about murders in the city, I’d always felt disconnected. I didn’t know anyone from those parts of the city, they didn’t even seem like part of the city I grew up in. I was allowed blissful ignorance because, for the most part, people who looked like me weren’t affected.


I used to go to a private Catholic school outside the city. I was lucky, in that regard. I was never sent to one of Philadelphia’s numerous underperforming neighborhood schools. However, because I was sent to Waldron Mercy Academy,  a private school, I was only ever really exposed to the life of people living in the Main Line. I was never exposed to the harsh reality that so many people in this city live every day. This began to change as I entered SLA, especially during the beginning of my sophomore year, with death of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The more evidence of police brutality that came out, the more determined I was to rid myself of my ignorance. As Madeleine Bair from WITNESS has said, “With all the videos that have flooded our news feeds and turned names of victims into hashtags of a social movement, how many videos have we not seen?” How many videos are out there that we haven’t seen because of the almost willful ignorance to this topic. And how many of these incidences have happened with no one there to record what was happening. How many people, how many cops, have gotten off because no one wants to believe a cop is capable of something this terrible.


People, especially people uneffected by it, have a way of trivializing violence. We find ways to make it seem like it isn’t such a big deal, and that it doesn’t affect many people. I was one of those people. I let myself be blinded by the privilege I held, and if I wasn’t going to SLA, I most likely still would be. I can see the posts that my friends from my middle school put up on Facebook, and I don’t know how to react. They trivialize the Black Lives Matter movement and don’t want to acknowledge the systematic oppression that extends into every aspect of our country. And they certainly aren’t the only ones. According to a survey conducted by PBS NewsHour and Marist College, “59 percent of whites described the [Black Lives Matter] movement as a distraction from the real issues, whereas only 26 percent of African Americans felt this way.”


At this point, we’ve accepted gun violence as a part of life. We certainly don’t want it to be something we regularly hear about on the news, but the way we see it, there is nothing we can do. While this idea is beginning to change, especially in the African American community, one of the communities most affected by violence, this change is facing an uphill battle. Ignorance is indeed bliss, and that comfort is not something many people want to leave behind. We, as people with privilege, do not want to acknowledge this privilege, because than it means that we acknowledge that change needs to happen, and that is something we don’t want to do. The system as it is works incredibly well for us, but only because the system is rigged that way. We have an advantage solely because others do not.


And we, people with privilege, go out of our way to excuse that privilege. We try to talk our way out of the privilege we hold. And we do the same with regards to gun violence. As essayist Susan Sontag has said, “Words alter, words add, words subtract.” Words can be used to change a horrible situation that needs attention to an issue for other people to deal with. One of the only ways to combat this is to use photographic evidence. We might try to trivialize photos and videos, but seeing a horrible truth is different than hearing about it. In the same essay as above, Sontag also said, “The horror of what is shown in the photographs cannot be separated from the horror that the photographs were taken.” Although Sontag was talking about the images from Abu Ghraib in Iraq, her argument could easily be about police brutality and gun violence. Both situations were and are perpetrated by people we are supposed to trust. People who are supposed to protect us. And both situations are and were enacted on people they felt superior to. This is the definition of privilege.


In the end, this resignation surrounding gun violence stems from our ignorance and the ignorance of the people in charge, and that ignorance comes from the arrogance and unwillingness to admit to flaws that privilege provides. Privilege, especially white privilege, allows for people who have it to run away from the problems they created. It’s a proverbial ‘get out of jail free’ card. And it is only given to certain people for arbitrary things like gender and race. We need to learn to let go of privilege. It is a weapon no one should be able to use. Maybe we can’t get rid of it, but acknowledging it and the issues that it creates is the first step to taking away its power.

Works Cited

"'Black Lives Matter' Confounds White People | DiversityInc." DiversityInc. 25 Sept. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.diversityinc.com/news/black-lives-matter-confounds-white-people/>

"Caught on Camera: Police Abuse in the U.S." WITNESS Media Lab. 08 Sept. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

<https://lab.witness.org/caught-on-camera-police-abuse-in-the-u-s/>

Sontag, Susan. "Regarding The Torture Of Others." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 May 2004. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/magazine/regarding-the-torture-of-others.html?_r=0>

Advance Essay #4: Video Evidence Against Violence

My goals for this paper were to show that video evidence of violence needs to be used to ensure that problems of violence aren't ignored. I tried to convey this goal by describing different organizations that have programs created to teach people how to use cameras to record violent acts. I also described why recording violence is an essential part make sure those who conduct violent acts are prosecuted accordingly. 

What’s going on in this picture? Look closely at the image above or view it in a <a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2016/01/21/learning/VTS01-25-16LN/VTS01-25-16LN-superJumbo.jpg">larger size</a>, then tell us what you see by posting a comment. On Friday, we will reveal more about the image and its origins at the bottom of this post.

With the increase of violent acts by the police on innocent citizens, there has been and still is a call for more police cameras and dash cams, cameras placed on the dashboards of police cars, to catch the police in the act or prevent them with the thought of being watched over. Videos serve as evidence for the public, for the rest of the world. Though not everyone has these cameras, videos are still recorded in hopes that there is no denying what happened. The Guardian describes the moments that led Feiden Santana to record the chase and unnecessary shooting of Walter Scott.

“Santana followed the chase for a few yards to a deserted patch of lawn behind a pawn shop and a car dealership. Here the officer caught up with the man, and ended up on top of him. Watching from behind a chainlink fence, Santana instinctively reached for his phone and pressed record…….Santana had hoped he might be noticed. “I believed my presence would prevent something,” he says softly, his voice almost drowned by the hum of cicadas. “But it didn’t happen that way.””  

There may be hope for evidence but circumstances stops these videos from being able to bring justice to current events in America. There is a low chance of the videos, recorded with phones, being used as evidence in courts. In many courts, phone recordings cannot be accepted as evidence in a trial. This shouldn’t be acceptable, with visual evidence of the events there should be a definite ruling against the defendant.

A younger boy with a cloth wrapped around his head is cutting away at the trunk of a tree. He is also in a leather jacket with black/dark blue pants with sandals. He is kneeling in the dirt to cut a lower section of the tree. You know the boy is in a forest because there are other trees in the background. There is also trash littered on the ground such as plastic bottles and abandoned towels. The boy’s face seem a calm with what he’s doing, his actions aren’t rushed. In countries such as Syria, the location of the above image, and even our own country, we need to provide video evidence to make people accountable for their actions.

As a result, programs are created to train people on how to record with camcorders and regular cameras. The training allows people to provide proper videos of violence and have evidence when reporting people conducting in violent acts. These programs, such as B'Tselem Camera Project have been set up to give the voiceless a way to speak out on unfair treatment. Before these programs were set up,there wasn’t a sure enough way that others would see the actions of others and would be able to stop what was happening in war torn countries and regions. The video recording programs and even recording on your own gives the backing that the human rights organizations need to showcase there is a serious problem that needs to be fixed so that people are able to live their daily lives without being faced with extreme acts of violence.

If these videos were piled together, the world can get a full view of places where conflict is common pace. The compilation of these videos also changes the world’s view on violence, they will be able to see for themselves what some people have to go through everyday. People don’t think about the certain violations that occur during wars. When there are cameras that actually film these events so that people can see what happens in other areas around the world, they put more effort into trying to stop these forces.

People view recordings as a way to cause more people to get involved in an issue. With visual proof of events that occurred, that person can’t deny what they have done and can get properly prosecuted. This is something you want to believe but a lot of the time people are still let free or never charged, such as officers timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback who shot and killed 12 year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland in 2014. The rise in unrest in the race issues in America causes people to call for cameras on police officers to record their actions. There were already videos taken by bystanders in previous occurrences but that didn’t stop the violence and it didn’t stop the officer from being let go.

These are the reasons why we need to let it be known of cases where violence is unnecessarily used and frequently used. Violence problems across the world can no longer be ignored. The general public needs to let their opinion be known and informed through records videos so that they can help with the problems we face as a modern world. We can no longer ignore the violence acted onto those who can't defend themselves.


Works Cited:


"Human Rights Campaigns & Projects from WITNESS." WITNESS. Witness.org. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <https://witness.org/our-work/>.


Laughland, Oliver, and Jon Swaine. "'I Dream about It Every Night': What Happens to Americans Who Film Police Violence?" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/15/filming-police-violence-walter-scott-michael-brown-shooting>.


"B'Tselem's Camera Project." B'Tselem Video. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.  <http://www.btselem.org/video/cdp_background>.

Advanced essay #4: Technology Changes Everything..

​My goal for this paper is to answer the question "what is the difference between the "truth" and the "story"? I used many sources and quotes to try to answer this question. When I finally answered the question, I came with all of these other answer like race, technology, story and truth. Writing this paper made me think a lot of this question and all these other topics. It really made me think and think. Same thing that happen to Trayvon Martin can happen to anyone included myself. I think this piece was the best piece that I wrote. I can feel it. I took my time and made sure everything is perfect as I see it. 

Truth is a fact or something stated that is accepted as true. A story is an account of past events in someone’s life. The truth can’t always be true and a story can’t always be true. Technology can help us support stories and the truth but even technology doesn’t show hundred percent of the story. What is the actually difference between the truth and the story?

For example from witness.org, "What WITNESS does is create, support, and sustain a global network of people who use video as their tool, as their weapon. This network reminds us that we are not a single voice; we are not alone." Another example is “WITNESS identifies ways for citizens to capture and preserve footage to improve its chances of it being used in the courtroom. Through tools, training, and advocacy efforts, we aim to help activists capture and use video as evidentiary material.” Another example was “The WITNESS Media Lab is dedicated to addressing the challenges of sourcing, verifying, and contextualizing eyewitness video to advance its use as a powerful tool for human rights documentation and advocacy. Visit the Lab for curated footage, analysis, cases studies, and resources.” The last example is “WITNESS responds to crisis situations around the globe by providing on the ground trainings, coordinating with local citizens and organizations, and making online resources available in multiple languages. Our aim is to help human rights defenders film more safely and effectively in dangerous and unpredictable environments.”

Technology can sometimes be usefully by showing video evidence of what happened during an incident. Other times technology isn’t as useful. It wouldn't be useful in a situation where it only shows one or a single part of video footage of an incident. Video footage doesn’t always tell the full story or the truth. That’s why technology including cameras outside in the streets or in stores shows some evidence but don’t at the same time.

Screenshot 2016-03-18 at 1.07.34 PM - Edited.png

Here is a young African American male. This young African American male is about 17 years old. He is taking a picture and looking directly into the camera. He has a white hoodie on top of his head. His name is Trayvon Martin. As Trayvon looks into this picture his eyes look like he has fear and innocence in them. Martin facial expression makes him seem like he is a little bit angry or upset about something.

Technology was a big key in the Trayvon Martin case. Trayvon Martin was walking back from the store going back to his location when George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman, claims Trayvon had his hoodie on and was high. He called 9/11 and said something about African American being high walking around in the rain and he thought Trayvon was up to something. The cops told him not to follow Trayvon but he followed Trayvon anyways and then claimed they began arguing and then started fighting. After, he claimed Trayvon tried to grab his gun and then he pulled out his gun and shot Trayvon Martin in the chest.

CNN website gave us the whole story and everything with details including phone calls, maps, and more. CNN stated “The same analysis also didn't reach conclusions as to whether Zimmerman used a racial epithet to describe Martin on his own 911 call, as some have alleged. Martin's family have said they believe Zimmerman, a white Hispanic, profiled the African-American teen.” Another example is Zimmerman's voice, meanwhile, comes through on a 911 call he made around that time, telling a dispatcher about "a real suspicious guy." "This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something. It's raining, and he's just walking around." Another example is “The dispatcher asked Zimmerman, who'd called 911 at least four times previously for other incidents, if he was following the person. He replies, We don't need you to do that," the dispatcher responded. But Zimmerman followed him anyway.” Last quote is “Federal civil rights charges are difficult to press, let alone get convictions for. In its press release about the decision, the lack of charges against Zimmerman are said to be a result of being unable to meet the standard of proving that the "defendant knew his acts were unlawful, and committed those acts in open defiance of the law. DOJ officials said they would have had to have proven that Zimmerman approached Martin in a threatening manner before the fatal shooting because of Martin's race.”

Technology helped us know where Trayvon was coming from and all the extra details. He don’t know if George Zimmerman shot him because he was a young African American male with a hoodie on. Even the police calls when George Zimmerman called the cops of him talking to them that part even helped the case out by the cell phones. We don’t know if this was the full story or if it was even the full truth. George Zimmerman got charged for murder that he committed. Then later on they released him because they didn’t have a whole lot of evidence to charge him with murder. People till this day still talk about this case because this wasn’t right and they let a guilty man let go.

Technology was also a big key in the Kevin Garner case. Kevin Garner was 43 African American male. Kevin Garner was a front of a store. A fight broke out with two other males. New York City Police put him in a chokehold and slamming his head to the pavement. He keep telling them he couldn’t breathe but they didn’t listen at all. He continued to choke him. They claim he was selling untaxed cigarette which is illegal. There is still a question if he was selling cigarettes or not? The police say yes and some of the witness say no. People say the police are saying yes because they would have a reason to arrest him and by killing him that they don’t get in trouble.. After all this talk the police officers were never charged. Technology played a role in this case, it didn’t give us the outcome that we wanted but in our heads we know the truth.

Simple Justice gave us the whole story with updates and a full video of what happen with police and Garner asking them multiple times to stop. Simple Justice stated “New York City police officers killed a man Thursday after he had broken up a fight between two other men, insisting on placing him in a chokehold and slamming his head to the pavement, piling on top of him as he gasped for air and as he continually told the cops he couldn’t breathe.” Another example from the website is “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” Eric Garner, 43, repeatedly screamed after at least five NYPD officers took him down in front of a Tompkinsville beauty supply store when he resisted being handcuffed.” The website also stated “The entire incident was caught on video from a witness who kept telling the cops that the man had not committed a crime.” Another example is “Within moments Garner, a married father of six children with two grandchildren, ceased struggling and appeared to become unconscious as police called paramedics to the scene. An angry crowd gathered, some recording with smartphones.” They stated “He referred to police rules that forbid chokeholds and define them as including “any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air.”

Technology helped us by giving us a clear view. It had recorded full video from witness smartphones of police going over to Kevin Garner getting choked up and getting over abused by officers. The smartphone video also helped us by giving us a story about what happen. It also had the part when Garner pleading to the cops that he couldn’t breathe at all. Did the officer do this because his skin color?

What is the difference between “story” and “truth”? Race, technology, story and truth all comes together as one big topic. By using technology like cell phones videos, store camera videos, police officer body camera videos, cop car dash cameras videos, we can actually see what is happening than someone saying their side of the story and some of the truth and not the full truth. With the world advancing we can catch the little stuff now and now days everyone records everything and anything. We can catch abuse from officer or any abuse or anything now days just because of the improvement of technology. We can catch on video racist acts happening to any skin color by another person. We can use the video to help us in court or anything to watch what happen but sometimes we don’t get the full video of what actually happen and the full thing. We can capture moments of the video but we probably wouldn’t get the full video.

Work cited used:

  • "NYPD Kills Eric Garner on Video (Update)." Simple Justice. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

  • "Human Rights Campaigns & Projects from WITNESS." WITNESS. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

  • CNN. Cable News Network. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

Advanced essay #4, Noah Weinberger.

     In this essay, I address my personal view on violence and nonviolence and how we should strive to be non violent through our hardships with our enemies. My goal is for the reader to understand my point of view and get a general idea of why I believe they should support nonviolence. I hope that I can do a good job of convincing the reader why violence is not always the answer for conflicts with other people, and that there's a nicer, happier, and safer solution to said conflicts. In addition, I hope this essay is informative to give people an insight on how violence and nonviolence works. I hope you enjoy this essay, cheers.

There is a black handgun. The gun has been bent and twisted into a knot so it is not possible to shoot anyone with it. At the bottom is a message that promotes non violence. The letters are big and bold so they can stand out to the viewer. This image encourages people to take action in nonviolence and nonviolent activities.


In our society today, we come across many challenges that can cause people to become aggressive. We encounter many people who usually have the same idea as we do, and that is to excel in life and accomplish the many things they see fit. But not all of these plans are remotely friendly to our own plans. Some of these ideas are backed by huge amounts of power or energy that comes from a corporation or organization. However, despite this, the danger is truly present when an individual idea or multiple ideas are backed by a Nation when other Nations don’t see fit. The danger derives from violence, which can cause many horrible actions to be taken by the people who are encouraged to use it as a solution to their problems and disagreements. These actions can fall along the lines of heated arguments with a failure of two or more individuals and/or nations seeing eye to eye which leads to fighting breaking out between them, and even killing when it goes far enough. Violence is the solution nobody should aim towards, or at least, the solution everyone should turn to lastly when nothing else is working. Despite this, our country turns to violence and warfare as a solution in most situations. In fact, most of the United State’s past and present accomplishments were through warfare, such as the Revolutionary war, the Civil war, the Mexican war, the Spanish American war and many more.


Now that you have a general insight into Violence, you may be asking; “What’s so wrong with violence? When other countries come to fight, we fight back and win. In addition, violence has solved our problems countless times.” Well while this is all true in it’s own respect, we can solve our problems in a more pacifist manner that will allow us to build on our social ability to conversate with others by seeking a non violent route in a conflict that won’t cost the lives of possibly hundreds of people. While there are people truly evil at heart, most people who back a general idea that was spread, usually feel as if they were doing the right thing. People pick sides but not because they want to be “bad.” In fact, it’s most likely that the opposing side that one fights against might feel that they are good in their own sense. To back this up further,  Martin Luther King Jr. shares his thoughts by saying; “The nonviolent resister is just as opposed to the evil that he is standing against as the violent resister but he resists without violence.” Despite all this, we are never informed or even think about the other side most of the time when conflicts arise, and therefore, we are led to believe by other individuals, our world leaders, and our own assumptions that we are the “good” and that the opposing side are the “bad.” You can even pull the world wars into this line of view about who is really the enemy. One man, Adolf Hitler, somehow appealed to the majority of Germany’s population, and the Nazis who backed him most likely believed he was right. The people who supported the morally corrupt ideas of this truly wicked man at heart, were convinced that what he said was true. They didn’t view themselves as “evil”, they thought that his line of thought was “right” and by supporting him, they thought that what they were doing was “good” even though it wasn’t.


Since we now know about Non-Violence, you may be wondering; “So What causes violence to be the first solution? Well, we need to take a look into the origin of where all violence derives from. To do this, we would have to know what causes violent actions to take place. If we were to observe, we would know that violence comes from two key features, fear and anger. In Scilla Elworthy’s TED talk, she explains the following: “Anger is like gasoline. When you have too much, it spreads around, and when somebody lights a match, you got an inferno.” She further states; “My fear grows fat on the energy I feed it.” From this, we break the text down and analyze it. The text’s meaning is telling of how violence derives from anger and fear. When you let your anger take control of you, then you will be at loss for control over the actions you take from that point on until all the anger recedes. In today’s society, how many times have we let anger control us? Lots of times, we let anger do the talking when we get angry at another individual. Sometimes, in similar situations, anger can lead us to get upset over something stupid. Anger can even lead us to do dangerous things, such as driving when angry, to even attacking others. When one is too angry to control themselves, they can end up seriously injuring and/or kill themselves in the event that they were careless in the action they were taking part in. However, when it comes to the entire nation, anger can result in a violent war against the other nation that started the anger to rise in particular. In addition to this, fear also plays a big role in violence as well. When we fear of something, it’s usually for the reason of something horrible we are believing to encounter. We are genuinely afraid of many things, such as our house, our money, our Job, our life, and that’s okay. It’s okay to be afraid, but we must not dwell on it or we will never overcome it. Just like anger, too much fear can harm you and the others around you. Once you become too afraid by constantly feeding your fear with the horrors of your mind, fear will engulf you and take complete control of your life until the day comes where you will face that fear. The day you face that fear will have a different outcome determined from how much your fear grew. And it’s because of fear that one may make hasty decisions and choose to try and hide from the responsibilities in life that lead up to this fear. A life constantly lived in fear from an undetermined outcome is one most likely wasted. Why wasted you may ask, because on your deathbed, you will most likely regret the fear you didn’t face. This rule of thumb for fear can be applied to great nations as well, which can result in many wars as an outcome. When one nation becomes afraid of another, they may try to stay on the one nation’s “good side” by constantly supporting them. Some nations will not fight back against an invading nation if they know the odds are against them and either surrender early or let the invasion go on. Some nations who own a strong military but weak economy fear for failure of the nation opposed to the other nation who may have a weak military but a strong economy (Such as North and South Korea, where North Korea has a small economy compared to south Korea. This leads to North Korea attacking South Korea to try and take their economy). This fear could lead to invasions to overtake the other nation to prevent a possible failure in the economy.


Non violence would offer a solution to all of these conflicts, however. If we could all remain nonviolent and seek friendship through the enemy, we could possibly go to greater lengths as nations. Martin Luther King said himself that “the nonviolent resister does not seek to humiliate or defeat the opponent but to win his friendship and understanding.” If we befriended all of our allies and foes, then we would have minimal conflict and more focus directed towards helping each other excel in life with what we have already accomplished so far. After all, who deserves to die over a simple disagreement?




King, Martin Luther, Jr. "The Power of Nonviolence."Teachingamericanhistory.org. Teachingamericanhistory.org, 4 June 1957. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

Elworthy, Scilla. "Fighting with Nonviolence." Scilla Elworthy:. TED.com, Apr. 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

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Foundation_NVPLogoBlack

Advanced Essay #4: How social media and technology affect violence?

          A lot of the process parts of this paper was about patience because there was a lot of research that went into this piece. It was very surprising to see how many of this violence actually occur in our everyday lives. One of the things that I struggled on was to retell the incident in my essay without no plagiarism notice. I think one of my weaknesses is to rewrite a story differently without losing any meaning or lesson coming out of it. Besides that, I thought that I did a good job with delivering the message of my writing; I thought that the thesis was very clear. 

Technology have controlled how we do things in society today. In the last 30 year, internet have been invented and it has revolutionized many forms of communication. People have no problem contacting their relatives from all over the world. There are many benefits to this creation, but there are also many consequence that come with it. For the years that technology has changed our lives for the better, it also increased the rate of violence in our society.

I have a friend that likes to spend her time on social media posting pictures and tweets about what she is thinking, where she is at, what she is doing at the moment, etc. I received the news one night when talking to my cousin that she got into a severe argument because of a social media interaction that she had with another girl. Apparently, the girl commented on one of her photos intruding her business, then my friend got mad and got into an argument with that girl in private message. The time and date was noon at Love Park. They decided to bring that small situation to the actual world. My cousin and I knew that this will turn into a fight and we did not think that it was necessary at all. We were able to convince her into not showing up. The moral of my personal experience is that because of another person clicking the send button from their phone, it triggered someone else on the other side of the channel. From that point on, it can turn into an argument that can end up like my experience and turn really physical and violent.

With domestic violence being everywhere in the United States, the city of Chicago is specifically known to be a dangerous city. With many people living in the ghetto, you have many really menacing communities and neighborhoods. Many of those locations in Chicago contain dangerous gangs, illegal drug transactions, many weapon misuses, etc. With that, having the power of technology and advanced communication techniques, it made everything a lot more efficient. That make everything a lot more dangerous for those neighborhoods and it made it a lot more complicated for the police department to track down. Relating back to the thesis, because of the advance technology that is available to almost everyone, they were able to use that to their advantage and create a easier way of communication for themselves. With that, it increased the rate of overall violence, and most importantly, for the people that are natives to Chicago.

Violence is occurring because of the advance technologies that we create everyday. Looking at it from another domestic perspective: on December 3 of 2015, a teenager from Olney Charter High School was arrested because of a threatening post online. The teenager posted on social media saying that he is intending to shoot up the school. That message was apparently sent to a young teenage girl from his school. The mother saw the message and it triggered her into calling the police department. The teenage boy was then arrested a couple days after; the police found a semi automatic pistol in his house. This shows the great matter of what social media can do to individuals like the teenage girl and her mother.

On the other hand, there was two students arrested on November 11 of 2015 because they also posted a threatening post on social media. The two student, from University of Missouri, posted saying that they will shoot any Black person in their sight when they come into class tomorrow and warns everyone to be ready. They got arrested 3 hours after they posted online. This enhance my argument of technology and social media making violence a lot more revealing through our blurry vision in society.

Speaking of vision, there are many things that people, especially teenagers, are not careful of. People have two sides and we tend to forget that sometimes when we become their friend. The teenagers that have been arrested might have friends that never thought that they would do such thing, but coming to realize that, they really did commit something like that. The picture below explains a lot about what I am talking about, and that is why I chose it. This explain the different sides that people have, and you should always be cautious about who you hang out with. download.png



I only provided three examples regarding mostly social media violence, but there are most definitely more examples out there in the world. It is sad to say that, some of these posts actually lead to the physical violence phase, and people get severely hurt. With that, this does not mean that you stop using social media or technology in general, in fact, be cautious about what you are posting online and who you choose to hang out with because all of it have an impact on your safety.


Bibliography:

"Olney Student Arrested after Alleged Threats of Violence on Social Media."PhillyVoice. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. <http://www.phillyvoice.com/olney-student-arrested-threats-violence-social-media/>.

This source talks about an incident in Olney Charter High School. Because of a post on social media, it triggered a mother of a young teenage girl to call the police. The social media post said something about a 16 year old that is planning to shoot up his school. I can use this as an example of my thesis.


"Social Media Transforms the Way Chicago Fights Gang Violence." Social Media Transforms the Way Chicago Fights Gang Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. <http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-social-media-transforms-chicago-policing.html>.

This website talks about the violence that happen in chicago and how social media changes it for the better or for the worst. Because Chicago has one of the highest rate of violence in its city, I decided to research on how social media impacted that rate.


"Is Our Addiction to Social Media Inspiring Violence?" Is Our Addiction to Social Media Inspiring Violence? N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. <http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-our-addiction-to-social-media-inspiring-violence>.

On this website, there is a question regarding violence that is put up. Everybody around the world is able to answer and debate about that question. I thought that it was interesting to study on what other people think about the topic of violence. This also gave me other inspiring topics to research about.


Alcindor, Yamiche, and Doug Stanglin. "2 Suspects Arrested in Social Media Threats at Missouri Campuses." USA Today. Gannett, 11 Nov. 2015. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/11/11/some-at-u-of-missouri-on-edge-after-social-media-threats-of-violence/75559034/>.

Like my first source, this is an example for my thesis. There were two suspects caught in a college in Missouri. The two suspects posted on social media about shooting any black person they encounter. This became and threat and they were eventually arrested because of it.

Advanced Essay 4: The World is a Tree

In this unit, we were going over how violence is incorporated in today's society. From all of our discussions, I decided to write about if we, as human beings, could live in a utopia, which is an absence of violence. My goal was to look towards the future and empower individuals. I use the stories of people who have been involved in wars in order to show how these violent situations can destroy the innocence of people and it starts with ourselves to have a utopia.


The world is a tree. It stands with strong roots built throughout the evolution of humans. In addition to building roots, human beings are the bark and stem of this tree. We have made societies that help make a strong system in order to exist in a world together. At the top half of this tree, the leaves are made up of the individual people of the world. The world is one big tree, but from the very beginning, this tree was always destined to have an ugly side. The side that is always shown is the side where it looks like every single person is able to receive the necessities and every person connected to the tree faces no type of traumatizing events.

Utopia.jpg


This idea of the world being a tree is is presented in the above picture. The picture is made of  hands. It is a representation of the world and the countries that make up the world. There are seven bigger hands in the back of the smaller hands. This could be a representation of the 7 continents of the world. The entire picture is of hands, making it show humans make up everything given to us in this world. Throughout the history of the world, humans have found a way to adapt to certain situations and environments and this has helped us evolve overtime. The picture shows that everyone is born with an acceptance of every person no matter who they are and where they are from and this allows us to build a strong rooted tree, or just a strong society.

The idea of a world in which everyone happy and nobody experiences pain is something that would be ideal, but could we, as human beings, live in a society rooted in nonviolence? The real question is could human beings live in a utopia? The simple answer is no. The evolution of human beings has had tremendous bloodshed and with that bloodshed, people have held ideas that keep them from accepting others. This is just the unfortunate truth as to why humans couldn’t live in a utopia. But how does violence make a society unable to be in harmony?

In many instances through history, when a problem between two countries, groups, or people occurs, violence is the first solution often looked upon. As defined by Google, violence is behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. When applied to conflicts between countries, these acts of violence lead to war. War is somethings that has heavily influenced the reason why humans beings wouldn’t be able to live in a utopia. For instance, Michael Abbatello joined the Marines and after coming home, he describes how his whole mindset changed. “Something is changed. You know, you feel down to your spirit. You know that you’re different now. You know, we don’t really have a consciousness of our own spirit until it’s wounded, and then it needs help” (PBS 2010). Micheal Abbatello is a real life example of of how war can destroy a person. When someone is placed into a very raw situation, such as war, the mindset of a perfect world is destroyed. As a result, as the idea of a peaceful world is destroyed and the world becomes a dog eat dog place.

In addition to Micheal Abbatello, many other people who are in war, whether they are civilians or soldiers, end up having their minds, morals, and outlook changed to a more negative perspective. Veterans came to our school and one of them named John Graham stated that “ war is easy to start, but hard to finish”. This is something that is true because no human being is born with an understanding on misery. Humans are born in an innocent state and this mindset is ruined because nothing in war is innocent.

Even though human beings could not live in the utopia anytime soon, there is still hope for the distant generations to live in a utopia. Right now, the world has a lot of violence penetrating the everyday lives and minds of innocent people. From the Syrian refugee crisis to the police brutality in the United States, violence in today's society is so prevalent that the current generation on the verge of living more into a dystopian society. However, the answer of how can this change lies within each individual. As Scilla Elworthy states, “It’s my response, my attitude towards oppression that I have control over… And what I need to do is to develop self-knowledge” (Fighting with Nonviolence, April 2012). This self knowledge is the realization that violent acts like war happen when humans let emotion overtake their thoughts and actions. In a situation,  Elworthy states, “That means I need to know how I tick, when I collapse, where my formidable points are, where my weaker points are. When do I give in? What will I stand up for?”. By being in control of our emotions, humans are in control of the world.

So the world tree that is in a wiltering state is able to stand upright once more again if people are aware of the power their emotions have in this world. “The only thing you can do is get up, make a cup of tea, and sit with that fear…...and anger is like gasoline and if you throw it around and someone lights a match, you have an inferno”. Controlling emotions is a major key in order for the world tree to go back into its original state: a utopia.


Works Cited:


  • Elworthy, Scilla. "Fighting with Nonviolence." TED. Apr. 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.


  • Severson, Lucky. "Moral Wounds of War." PBS. PBS, 28 May 2010. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.


  • Gregory, Sam. "Images of Horror: Whose Roles and What Responsibilities? - WITNESS Blog." WITNESS Blog. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

Advanced Essay 4: Alexander Hamilton, the Hero of our Nation

Alexander Hamilton is the most important founding father in creating the future of our country, in my view. Hamilton believed that it was important to look to the future , not only the present, when creating our brand new nation. I am a big fan of Hamilton's and appreciate all he has given the country. I think he needs to be remembered. The Broadway musical surely does that but I wanted to dig deeper into his views on the military and how important it is to the US. Even though I am not a supporter of the intense funds given to the military, I think it's also important to realize the arguments speculating the importance of putting money into the military. It's important to question what would happen in the world and the US' stance in the world if we didn't prospect a strong military. The world would be different and Hamilton's views at the time expand on why it's important for the US to have a powerful military in order to succeed in the world. 


Alexander Hamilton, the man made famous in the 21st Century by a Broadway show. He was the man that documented the Coast Guard, was the top aide to George Washington, created our financial system, and embodied the influence and power of chance that our country holds for so many. When Hamilton first entered the borders of the United States to study in New York, the Revolutionary War was on the verge of beginning. The Revolutionary War was the armed conflict between the 13 colonies of North America (later to be known as the United States) and Great Britain. With the help of allies, the colonies ended up winning in 1783, after a eight year war filled with deaths and terror, and the United States became free formally in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.


Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies, a top export to Britain in the 18th Century. He was “a bastard, orphan, son of a whore”, who conquered all the stereotypes to become one of the top political advisers in the late 18th Century to the 19th Century. His mother was divorced before meeting Alexander’s father and through that, Alexander was immediately seen as less than other kids his age. He immigrated to the colonies with the funds of a scholarship created by his neighbors who saw strong potential in the book obsessed, intelligent young man. From then on he was an immigrant also, beginning his studies at King's College. In 1775, he became a member of a militia company.


By 1776, he was appointed as captain to his company, a group of other army folk from across the 13 colonies. The company he inspired, is the longest consecutively serving company in the US Army. Soon afterwards, he became the top aide to George Washington. Hamilton was put in charge of a wide range of military conflicts and intel as one of the most important confidants of the army general. Hamilton was the first person to make contact with British troops during the battle of Yorktown. He was on the front line and captivated a daring personality during the battle that ultimately designed our country. After Yorktown, with the exception of Washington, Hamilton was the most popular figure in the 13 colonies. Washington trusted Hamilton’s opinion during intel conversations greater than anyone else. From that, Hamilton played a top settler on militarial intelligence and participated in top communications during battles. Hamilton played a key role in Yorktown and other conflicts.


Washington and Hamilton were adoringly close. Their relationship was admired as a father and son relationship, one filled with trust, admiration, and grit. Considering that Hamilton had never had an acquaintance with his father, Washington became the father like figure of the young scholar. In a famous picture, on a battleground stand the two. With Washington being much taller than Hamilton, he stands tall and confident with his hand placed admirably on his beloved horse. Hamilton with his shorter and prouder manner, stands in a insightful fashion near his adored friend. The two prop on a battlefield, the area where the two of them became close and joined together in a mission to acquire their joint country (or adopted country in the case of Hamilton) to create the greatest United States of America that was possible.


Hamilton’s views were transferred and created by his role in the army, playing a deep root in his values as he grew to become a political top aide. Hamilton understood the importance of the army but also the importance of valuing human life and creating a cap to place war as the last resort. His close relationship with a military hero, George Washington, had deep meaning for the rest of his life. His time in the military changed him and history. From a review of the 1999 book, Republican Empire: Alexander Hamilton on War and Free Government, by the Independent Review “The greatest differences between Hamilton and his political opponents involved war. Distrusting the intentions of all the great powers of Europe, Hamilton feared that war was right around the corner and that a responsible administration had to prepare the country for it. His opponents were less fearful of war and more trusting of European intentions. By the end of the 1790s, those opponents included not only Jefferson and Madison, but also President John Adams, who resented Washington’s insistence that Hamilton be commissioned a major general and made inspector-general, akin to today’s army chief of staff, during the quasi-war with France.”


Without Hamilton’s views and inputs in the early years of our country, our country would not be the same. Hamilton believed that putting funds and intelligence into defense for the United States would allow us to become the most powerful nation on earth. As we see now, just under a third of our country’s budget goes to the military and it was due to Hamilton who advocated for that to be done. During the times of Hamilton this could have been more useful, considering there were many more reasons to have input in the defense of a brand new country. Hamilton changed the role of the US and its military in the world.  


Hamilton believed in the United States of America and all it could achieve. Through his outspoken values and his creative, non stop writings, Hamilton established his name in the history books of our country. Yet, through remembering all that he achieved to create the country that now stands above all in terms of economic and military power, Hamilton helped make this country. Without Hamilton our military wouldn’t be the same. Our stance in the world wouldn’t be the same. And by God, our country would not be the same.


Hamilton changed history. Without Hamilton our country would be different. There would not be such an input in our countries military and intelligence. The US became the greatest world power in World War One, in many ways due to the influence of its military in domestic and international affairs. Without Hamilton’s input to get to that point of putting the military over many other domestic issues, our country wouldn’t be the same it is now. The US is powerful (whether you like it or not) due in part of the funds to the military. To get rid of those ideas would be to get rid of Hamilton. Our idea of a free press would hold no truth without his intense writings that captivated citizens. Without Hamilton, our country wouldn’t be the way it is. Hamilton created the United States of America and he should be remembered as more than a $10 bill. He deserves the respect that we accomplish to all other founding fathers. His mark is strong. Hamilton is the one that made the US and the world what it is.


"ALEXANDER HAMILTON." ALEXANDER HAMILTON. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.  http://www.history.army.mil/books/revwar/ss/hamilton.htm


"Alexander Hamilton." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.  http://www.ushistory.org/brandywine/special/art08.htm


"Book Review: Republican Empire: Alexander Hamilton on War and Free Government." The Independent Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.  


"H-Net Reviews." H-Net Reviews. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

Poema

Title: Quién Soy Yo (Who I Am)

Julia Furman.

Soy yo.

Otra adolescente.

Tengo quince años.

La hija de ciudadanos Americanos.

Simplemente quiero ser aceptada.


Veo los edificios de la ciudad.

Huelo la cocina de mi mamá.

Saboreo mi limonada casera.

Oigo el ladrino de los perros.

Toco el pelo de mi perro.


Soy de los Estados Unidos.

Vivo con la águila.

Vengo desde sangre abolicionista.

Buscando el mejor futoro para el mundo.


Somos productos de los Estados Unidos.

Somos ciudadanos Americanos.

No somos europeos.

Europa vive en nosotros,

Pero allí no tenemos hogar.

Tenemos hogar en los Estados Unidos.

Somos Americanos

y somos completos.

Nuestra verdad.


jfurman's song

E1 U5 "Buscando"

Buscando

Leah es mi nombre

Vivo buscando el azul del cielo

De tanto caminar en solidaridad

Quiero escapar, quiero volar

Tù crias rabia,

Pero vivo buscando el azul del cielo

Me voy con los barcos a las Américas

Camino con los inmigrantes a mi hogar

Afronto las corrientes de cambiar mareas polìticas

Mostró las personas mi pelo, mi ojos, mi vivo.

Somos de las Americanas

Pero somos siempre de mudanzas en Filadelfia

Somos parcialmente muchas lugares

Somos parte de Europa y Árabe

Pero no es mi hogar a mi familia

Las personas presutan,

?De donde soy es mi pelo?

Where is your hair from?

No digo nada. No se.


Leah Bradstreet


Written and sung with the music from Kamisama Hajimemashita's, "Ototoi Oide."

Spanish Words paired with -Ototoi Oide- from Kamisama Hajimemashita

Advanced Essay #4:American Ties



I chose to write about this topic because no one else was writing about it and it was a good idea at the time. I didn't have many options, and this was the one I could do the most with. I had a lot of sources, but I didn't quote any of them so I had to go back and find at last one to quote in my paper for some solid factual evidence. I didn't have much of a process, I just wrote the paper and was done with it.

There is a picture of people protesting the Vietnam War in the streets. There is a crowd of people on a street holding a sign above their heads that says:”Our real enemy is U.S Corporations and the rest is hidden behind other protesters. You can tell they’re angry, but stand tall. All the people in front have their arms linked, a sign of unity and strength. This image represents what Ii’ll be talking about in my advanced essay. This represents the people at home, angry and outraged at their friends, and family being sent off to fight in a war that isn’t necessarily theirs. In this essay we'll will be exploring the question of what america is trying to protect if it isn’t the people they send to fight for them. There are many answers to this question already, believing that war is the equivalent of a squabble between two children over something relatively insignificant. Unfortunately, in this situation, there is no parent to separate the two, so what could’ve been solved with a few words has now escalated into a full on fight between the two parties. This is war, if America isn’t putting the lives of its people before all else, there is no point to war.


The first aspect of war that shall be explored about is the aftereffects of it, specifically how veterans of war are celebrated once they return home. In particular, I want to talk about the Vietnam veterans. In one the bloodiest, longest, and most brutal wars of the century, the Vietnam veterans had probably gone through some of the toughest ordeals as soldiers, many of them only just out of high school. Because of this, many of them had looked to drugs and alcohol for comfort during the war to keep them sane.The U.S government knew this, and what did they do? They started outlawing all of the drugs that the soldiers had depended so heavily on left and right. IN an article in the New York Times, author Tim Hsia says this

“The Vietnam War casts an equally large shadow over American society. The Vietnam War exposed underlying racial issues, whether the elite had to serve, the role of the media, and distrust toward government.”

Being so addicted that they couldn’t stop. The older veterans, having more experience, were able to mostly re adjust to living in the States, but most of the younger ones couldn’t cope with the complete change and ended up resorting to crime to get by. The U.S noticed this, and that they were also exhibiting symptoms but was extremely reluctant to give aid to the 700,000 veterans that were in need of it. Even after agreeing to help them, treatment was stalled which only further progressed the veterans’ anxiety and trouble with adjusting to society."

Simply stating what I said before, this passage really highlighted the extent of America's lackluster response to the soldier's return, and the aid they required to blend in with the American society yet again. I feel that instead of taking reponsibility for what they were completely and totally responsible for, America shied away from its problems. In this way, their reluctance to treat the veterans and the lukewarm welcoming back to the states showed me the capacity for which america could really show indifference to the well being of their people


The second aspect of war that was a significant reminder of America’s treatment of citizens was the countries who weren’t even officially considered U.S citizens yet claimed to be U.S territories. For starters, how many people knew that Guam was a U.S territory? Probably not that many. Do you know what percentage of their people were drafted into the army in the War on the Philippines and the Spanish american war? 12.5%. That's an insanely high percentage. To put it on a scale, for every 8 people living in Guam, 1 of them was sent off to war. That meant every person living there knew someone who was either at war or was already a veteran of war. However, for being one of the most devoted people to the American cause, they received the smallest amount of money for treatment after the war. In a way, it’s like the U.S completely forgot that they were at the war at all. Even worse, Guam was given a representative in the U.S senate, yet they can’t vote. They are also affected by the laws passed in America, so it would only make sense for them to be able to vote for who will lead them. Even though america’s slogan is the home of the brave, land of the free, we shouldn't feel as confident sporting that knowing that thousands of miles away, there’s a country that is a U.S territory, yet treated like aliens. Is this the extent of America’s ability to serve and protect its people? Is this really the country we live in?


In conclusion, i’d have to say that we protect some, but not all of our citizens. America has many deep dark secrets that have yet to be uncovered, but hopefully they’ll begin to get better as time passes. The biggest concern right now is taking care of our citizens overseas like Puerto Rico, and Guam. After we tackle those issues, the hard part will be over, and the experience gained from those situations being solved will further evolve America as a country that can capably take care of its citizens.



Advanced Essay #4: "Now & Then"

My goals for this writing were mostly to inform. I wanted to compare how much the world has changed because it is important to see how differently things are done and understood. I wanted to make my thoughts clear to myself as well as the readers. When I felt as though my writing was complete I was satisfied with the results. I think my argument was strong, but there is always that thought that I could have done something to make it a little better,
Letter-to-a-Homeless-Person
Letter-to-a-Homeless-Person

Violence and nonviolence is not the same today as it was in the past. The image above shows an example of the mindset people have today. This image shows a man in a black body suit holding another mans head to look away from the homeless man lying on the ground. The homeless man is leaning against a piece of cardboard that is leaning against a building made of marble bricks, that is clearly not his own. The man in the black bodysuit is a physical version of our fears. The homeless man represents the reality that we need to face.

Fear has always played a big part in History. History is not just a subject in school, but a topic in life. If you were to ask somebody about what they first learned in History you are guaranteed to get an answer including Martin Luther King Jr. He is known as the king of nonviolence, and he has made many changes with this method. “Perhaps a more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home.” This is from his Beyond Vietnam speech in New York, NY on April 4, 1967. This specific quote was interesting to me because he was basically saying the true reality of what was happening was not revealed to him until the situation got worse. But as people learned in early History classes, the time in which MLK was alive the level of nonviolent protests was popular and favorable for the future which is now our present time.

Speeches and sharing ideas are some of the great ways nonviolence was supported during MLK marches and meetings. Today we still hear stories about history but ideas and thoughts are more vaguely and strongly made aware to others as individuals today. The way we talk and the specifics of what we talk about are said angrily. Our views on situations that happened in the past can be expressed strongly enough to change the tone of a story and make the person listening understand in a negative way resulting in the butterfly effect of whisper down the lane. Some might say stories can never contain the full truth. Others might say truth is build off of stories, vice versa. In a way “truth” and “story” can be the same and different at the same time.

The same way stories can be ingrained in our society militarism is also ingrained in our society in almost every way possible. By contrasting how most people deal with war today and in the past it is easy to see that people are way more aggressive and violent today. We would rather take action to make a faster change than to sit around and wait for a “maybe” kind of answer. Militarism is ingrained in our society as a way to show pride in our country. It is also seen as a way of protecting what is yours, as well as hurting what is not. Depending on the type of individual you are you will fall into at least one of these three categories. When I watch older movies that include parents watching their children be sent off to war, they go to “serve” their country. Today the reason would be to fight for what is right, not to serve the country. Some go into the field to have the power and authority to kill just because. We try to use nonviolence as a form of protesting today but some thoughts do not start with this.

Nonviolence was a very large and powerful way of protesting in the past. Our people today brush the thought of nonviolence out of their minds with no reflex to the cold chill it brings to some. “A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies.” I believe this is what happened to change the way we protest for change. I believe that we questioned the fairness and justice and did not like what we seen. This resulted in a hidden revolution. The revolution included switching from nonviolent tactics to violent ones. Because people today question everything to make sure they are being treated equally there is no doubt in my mind to know that we will never again be a society rooted in nonviolence.

How does war and violence change people? The real question to ask should be “How does it not change people ?” War has been a part of my everyday life even when I did not know it. My country was at war, my family, and even myself. I realized how my attitude has changed over time as well. I would react calmly to situations as a young child but now, if I know something doesn't feel right, I will stand up for others and myself. War and violence has not changed people in this generation because we are so accustomed to it being in our lives. It all depends on the time frame you include or talk about.


Bibliography


"Beyond Vietnam**." Beyond Vietnam**. Web. 17 Mar. 2016. <http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietnam/>.


"Fighting with Nonviolence." Scilla Elworthy:. Web. 17 Mar. 2016. <https://www.ted.com/talks/scilla_elworthy_fighting_with_non_violence?language=en#t-314454>.

Advanced Essay #4

War, war never changes. Throughout time, leaders have used their ability speak to sway large masses of people. In more recent times leaders have used the weaponry and resources they have in order to influence allies and enemies, however, the combination of successful public speaking and frighteningly deadly super weapons creates a dangerous society that may put to much trust in their leader and the use of weapons of mass destruction.

In the United States’ Democratic society, we believe we have elected officials that are supposed to represent the majority of the citizen’s political beliefs. Many politicians do represent the voice of the people who elected them. When politicians give public speeches, their rhetoric can be quite intense. Sometimes, these speeches can get even more heated when it comes to ideas around managing the United States defense system and foreign policy. The combination of overly aggressive politicians and the stockpiling of government weapons such as nuclear bombs can be dangerous and lead to a more aggressive society. This heated debate often leads to violent attitudes in the country’s society.

During the height of the Cold War, in 1960 at a United Nations meeting in New York, Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev grew impatient on the topic of Russian decolonization to fellow world leaders and representatives. Khrushchev banged his shoe against a table to silence the members of the United Nations. Khrushchev then approached a podium in a large room filled with hundreds of his peers. In his speech addressed to the U.S. and the Western world, he said “[the USSR] will bury you.” Although there is debate on the validity of the event of Khrushchev banging his shoe, this moment in history of Khrushchev with the shoe represents the beginning of an increase of foreign hostility in the Cold War that included the threat of nuclear warheads. It was Khrushchev’s line “We will bury you” that set forth the Red Scare and Cold War. Khrushchev’s speech is one of the main contributing factors to the increase of distrust and hate of the U.S.S.R. and encouragement to outdo the Russians in a battle for nuclear power. In the decade before Khrushchev’s speech (1950 -1959) the U.S. spent an average of 147.31 billion dollars per year on military funding and purchases. The average amount of military funding per year in the following decade (1960-1969) was 171.61 billion dollars and even more in the following decade.

In former President George W. Bush’s speech on the possibility of the presence of “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, he provided several types of solutions to combat the potential threat. One of the solutions was to increase military spending for soldiers abroad and to increase spending for American nuclear arms. As part of the Bush Administration’s promise to keep the U.S. safe, they tried to increase funding for the “upgrading” of nuclear weapons for things like nuclear “bunker busters.” The combination of former President Bush’s on Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction” with attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11th that lead to an increase in military funding for nuclear arms and a vendetta among many civilians against Iraq and people of the religion of Islam. Shortly after the terrorist events on September 11th, Anti-muslim hate crime increased by over 1,000%. The amount of anti-muslim hate crimes per year decreased significantly after 2001 but have yet to get close to the numbers they were before September 11th, 2001.Funding for military research increased in the U.S. during the Bush Administration, at a rate comparable to that of the time of the Cold War, yet the war continued. Peace was not made with more bombs.

Based on a research study performed by Nathan Kalmoe, a political science doctoral candidate from the University of Michigan, found that violent political rhetoric does fuel more violent attitudes, especially in younger people. In Kalmoe's first survey, 412 adults read two political advertisement texts (one violent, the other non-violent) for two U.S. House candidates where certain words related to violence were changed in the text. During the altering of the ads, no person or group of people were targeted. Respondents were asked about their aggression levels and interest in violence against political leaders. It was found that adults who read aggressive advertisements had “strong predispositions to support political violence.” It was also found that young adults were more likely to adopt violent attitudes after exposure than older adults.

The results of speeches given by Khrushchev and former President George W. Bush resulted in an increase of public fear of an enemy of which little was known about. The result of the speeches lead to the stirring up of fear and encouragement for greater military funding especially towards development of nuclear arms. In more recent times, politicians have become more focused on reducing the amount of nuclear arms to create a more peaceful society; not just within their own country but globally as well.


Sources:

khrushchev_shoe
khrushchev_shoe

AdvancedEssay#4+LukasSupovitz-Aznar


Lukas Supovitz-Aznar

Advanced Essay #4

When I first started this unit about war I was immediately intrigued about the concept of why we are so involved in war. My first thoughts were that their has to be a method to our madness, but the more I learned the more I felt mislead. While writing this essay I wanted to lead the reader to a more knowledgable reason on how recruitment goes down. I tried my best to keep my opinion out of this topic, and just write with factual content. I think I did that, but still provided interesting content that would make the reader want to keep reading more. In synopsis I am happy I picked this topic because I was enlightened myself.

Hundreds of men stand in front of our flag, pledging their allegiance to this country. This photo is a powerful, yet common photo of a bunch of young men showing their dedication to the country; the same country that betrays them in many ways. In the background is the American Flag, and it shows that they will all fight for the cause. Sometimes the cause is not identified but these men are still willing to risk their lives. This has been a trend, where men who are mislead by their country still are loyal and extremely proud to represent the country. Throughout history, war has been an important topic for all countries.

Since the beginning of the United states, we have always been very involved in all different kinds of war. Recently war has come under attack, specifically by the United States recruitment system.  Army recruitment happens all around the country, and these recruiters come to thousands of high schools to get kids who are not yet ready to sign up for war. An important topic to note is that most recruitment goes on in towns of poverty, or where not much goes on. Kids are often lured into a lifestyle that they are not yet ready to live, and the recruiters know this but it is necessary for them to do to keep the strongest military in the world. According to the New York Times article “Army recruiters say they feel pressure to bend the rules” it states “He has been bending or breaking enlistment rules for months, he said, hiding police records and medical histories of potential recruits. His commanders have encouraged such deception, he said, because they know there is no other way to meet the Army's stiff recruitment quotas.”  This shows that recruitment is often unfair and this idea of a quota to sign people up is wrong. Although some recruits are not interested in serving for the country, others are. “By the Army's own count, there were 320 substantiated cases of what it calls recruitment improprieties in 2004, up from 199 in 1999, the last year it missed its active-duty recruitment goal, and 213 in 2002, the year before the war in Iraq started. The offenses varied from threats and coercion to false promises that applicants would not be sent to Iraq. Many incidents involved more than one recruiter, and the number of those investigated rose to 1,118 last year, or nearly one in five of all recruiters, up from 913 in 2002, or one in eight.” To be sent to war in an unfamiliar country without actually having any motive to do so is unjust, and one out of eight is a pretty large portion. Yet still many kids grow up with the dream of joining the military, and that is something to be proud of. The real crime is the lies that the recruits are told, such as “College will be payed for”- New York Times. This is very unfortunate, and for many they end up resenting how they served in the military because they were lead to misconceptions through the recruitment process. For a promise like college being payed for to be broken is very tragic, so most suggest to get everything in writing before actually signing up for the military.

The larger picture is how do people get away with the lies that they tell to these high school students. What tends to happen is that the recruiters have a quota to meet, so they have to get a certain amount of people to join. But it would be completely untrue to say that all recruiters lie to get more people to join, because some are totally honest. Most agree that the best way to get more people to join is to be completely honest. But some are not honest, which is a brutal reality of the war. What should be pride in serving our country turns into a sales tactic. All recruiters are put through sales training which impacts the people who they recruit. It feels like an injustice that people have to be sold the military, and it is not just of free will. For something as serious and harmful as war, it is scary to think that a teenager can make such a large decision without knowing the consequences. People are legally allowed to risk their lives at war before they are allowed to drink. Children start being sold the pride of being a soldier before they are able to speak. 

Sources :

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/03/us/army-recruiters-say-they-feel-pressure-to-bend-rules.html?_r=0

"Pressure to Bend the Rules." New York Times. New York Times, 3 May 2005. Web.

http://www.beforejoiningthemilitary.com/most-common-recruiter-lies-told-to-recruits-joining-the-military/"

5 Lies Recruiters Tell Recruits Joining the Military." Before Joining the Military. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/2015/03/02/army-recruiter-secret-tactics/24081395/

"Secret Tactics of Successful Army Recruiters." Army Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.



US-Military-with-Flag
US-Military-with-Flag

Advance Essay #4 Innocent people and Violence

My goal for this paper was to find out the answer to my question that I had which was how do innocent people respond to violence. I came to a conclusion that there was no answer to this question. This was because people have different perspectives to say what an innocent person is. You may think one thing and another person may think another and it keeps going. No one can really tell how an innocent handles violence unless you are basing it off your own perspective of how you see that person.


Violence is a behavior that involves physical force that intends to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Depending on the person will depend on how bad a person handles a situation with violence. For example A guilty person or a person who has anger issues may handle a bad argument with violence and physically hurt someone so bad that they might kill them. So what about the innocent and/or the /good people, how do they respond to violence? Catherine Le Magueresse who is a researcher on the subject states,  “Everyone in feminist circles and in the justice system were not at ease with this case, because when you are a victim of physical abuse and you kill your abuser, you become like him in a way — you choose violence.” I believe she is trying to say that even if the other person was evil for what they did, a good person becomes evil like that person when you do something violent back to them.

Violence is always going to happen. It doesn’t make a person good or evil because good  and evil are the same words to describe people that  are nice and mean. Someone who is good is usually the nice person and whoever is evil is the mean person. But in the ted talk called The Psychology of evil stated that “the line between good vs evil is moveable” which is the truth because people all have different perspectives of what is good and what is evil. Their is many things a person can say that a person is good as well as evil. Someone may think someone is still good even if they did bad/evil things just like someone can say someone is evil for doing something bad but they do good things.

People often think violence solves everything. For example when a child may get into a fist fight in school. The fight might have started from one child  bullying or doing something wrong to an innocent child.  The innocent child would then  think he needs to hit the child who started it all to show he is tough. In his mind he believes he has to because if he doesn’t prove himself then the other children at school will think he is a wimp or weak. Even though the child who started it can be considered evil, the child who then raised their hand to the other child will be equally as evil because he physically hurt that child.


In Vietnam, followed by soldiers, the young children were walking away from their village   and the looks on their faces gave off they were crying, upset, and devastated by their homes  burned down in flames. Not many children can be seen, it’s possible that the village was either small or the children were shot and killed.The website, “War children”, talks about what children go through in any war. Children are usually innocent and do not have any part of what goes on in their village. They are not the ones causing the problems, so it makes me wonder why are they being killed or physically hurt and it makes me wonder why won’t they  do anything about it. This website states “Millions of children and young people worldwide are affected by armed conflict. They are confronted with physical harm, violence, danger, exploitation, fear and loss. Many children are forced to flee. Some witness the death of loved ones. Some are forced to pull the trigger themselves.”  In Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech he talked about how terrible it was for vietnam to go through what they did in the war. America is suppose to be free and show the image of freedom but that all changed because the people who weren’t enemies before became their enemy and kill many of their people and destroyed their homes. Martin Luther King stated ” The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism.” I believe he said this because seeing what the people did to the Vietnamese people who were innocent, lose so many love ones, and material things in their life; he wants us to back at this. He hopes for us to see that soldiers for the U.S who are suppose to be good, helped the bad and did bad things to Vietnam and its people. As we look deeper into this, it was all violence created by bad people to good people. The Vietnam responded back by fighting in which they also killed many people, but that doesn’t make them evil because if they didn’t stand up for their village, everyone would haved died.



veitnam war essay pic.jpg

This Vietnam War picture shows  how innocent people were being attacked and killed in their own home. All people respond to violence differently regardless if they are innocent or not. One innocent person may get physically hurt by someone else and not do anything about it. The other innocent person may get physically hurt and do something back which would not be wrong for them to do because it is self defense. Although you could say they would be evil as well because they are still hurting someone back.

Their are too many perspectives to say what an innocent person is because you may think that person is innocent and the other person may think that person is not innocent. No one can really tell how an innocent handles violence unless you are basing it off your perspective.


Work cited:

  1. Blaise, Lilia. "He Abused Her for Years. She Shot Him. France Asks: Is It Self-Defense?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/world/europe/murder-of-abusive-husband-casts-stark-light-on-domestic-violence-in-france.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1>.


  1. "Beyond Vietnam**." Beyond Vietnam**. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietnam/>.

  2. Holland, War Child. "EFFECTS OF WAR ON CHILDREN."Warchildholland.org. War Child Holland, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2015. <http://www.warchildholland.org/effects-war-children>.

Advanced Essay #4_ Environment and Change

My goal for this paper was to explore in depth my question which was, how does a world different from our norm compel us to commit violent acts? I was curious to explore other ways other than soldiers changing. This is one goal that I was able to accomplish. I was able to read an article on feminism which held the same ideas that I had developed after watching Zimbardo's TED talk. I think I was able to go through this piece with a lot of organization. I was able to fully understand how I could connect all of my research to my piece and from there I chose the strongest sources and quotes. I believe that through the peer-editing process I was able to get even more analysis out of my piece. I decided to end my piece with the story of the image because I had gotten really caught up in making a story with the image and it had helped me build my thesis for this paper.


As the war continues, two brothers take cover. They hide in their home, watching through the crack in the door. Hoping and waiting for the day when the war will end. They wait for the time they will be safe. The older brother positions himself in front of the younger brother, shielding him from any harm that may come. Their eyes tell a story. A story of loss, a loss of family and a loss of hope. They watch with saddened eyes as their home get torn apart by the soldiers and rebels. The younger brother is filled with more hope than his older brother. The younger brother is still innocent and does not understand what the war means or what is occurring. The older brother is weighed down by the reality of this war and has trouble seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. As each second passes we can see them age. Each bullet fired adds a year to their age.   

On March 2003, United States soldiers in a prison in Abu Ghraib, Iraq began to torture and abuse the Iraqi detainees. Images were released in January of 2004 and an investigation was underway to determine who the abusers were. Some of these graphic images depicted a woman soldier holding a prison with a dog leash. What caused these seven soldiers to commit such violent acts cannot be explained. Susan Sontag writes “No: the horror of what is shown in the photographs cannot be separated from the horror that the photographs were taken -- with the perpetrators posing, gloating, over their helpless captives.”

Sontag brings up a key point, the horror not only was in the image but the fact that these soldiers took these photographs and posed for them. Humans can be thought of as sculptures made of clay. Everywhere we go and everything we do and see done changes our shape. Environment molds us into a different shape. Humans are very influential and easily misguided to do things they would not do in their “natural habitat.” Abu Ghraib was an environment that challenged these seven soldiers and challenged who they were and their morals. It only took one to change for the rest of them to succumb to the environments changes. We see many instances where people change their environment and often turn out happier and prosper in this new environment. So it’s shocking for us to hear and see an environment break a person. What’s most shocking however is the degree at which Abu Ghraib changed these soldiers.

Abu Ghraib is only one of many examples of environments changing us and our natural sense of right and wrong. Kim Turcot DiFruscia wrote a piece on feminism and spoke about the same issues that we see occur in war. However, the war she writes about is not a war fought with weapons like guns and explosives, this war is fought with words of hate and oppression of the opposite sex. DiFruscia writes “In many situations you cannot decipher which particular individual has this specific responsibility because it is the coming together of various forces that produces a particular action.” She states that “various forces” cause a “particular action” to occur. We cannot determine how an individual will react to a situation. We do not know what has occurred previous to this action therefore we cannot determine the outcome of their reaction. We cannot determine how they will be forever changed. Later on in her article she writes “Not by escaping, but by assimilating the violence and weaving your life in it.” One never gets rid of all the violence and pain they have endured. Instead they learn to live with this pain and they learn to mold it into something that is beneficial to them. How one takes this violence and how they mold it is completely dependent on the “coming together of various forces.” In some ways this relates to post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, something very common among soldiers coming back from war. We cannot always point out who suffers from PTSD but this is because there are varying degrees of this disorder. Some soldiers learn to weave this disorder into their life and others try to escape it.

Our surroundings affect us and who we become more than we tend to realize. People who grow up in and move to war zones change and become shaped by their environment. We hear many stories about soldiers doing things that are not what we would consider normal., such as the horrifying acts committed by the soldiers in charge of the prison in Abu Ghraib. We tend to ask ourselves how can this occur? We know these people and know their characters. They could never commit such acts. But a world so different from our norms can compel us to commit these violent and sometimes horrifying act. If a place can change you for the better, can’t it also change you for the worse?

The younger brother, Armin had fallen asleep, on the cold stone floor. None of their beds were left. Covers were a luxury they could not afford. He watched his younger brother as he slept, as he did every night. He listened to Armin’s soft snores which the older brother, Arya was glad for. He slept so peacefully, almost as if the world they lived in did not exist and as if Arya was the one trapped in a nightmare. Armin turned in his sleep and Arya felt a sinking feeling in his chest when he saw his brothers face. The smooth curve of his nose, the long, dark eyelashes, and the thick eyebrows. All replicas of his own facial features. The only difference between the two brothers was their hair. Armin had short straight hair that barely reached his eyebrows. Arya had thick curly hair that was growing long, almost covering his eyes. Arya was grateful for the home they had left. But he was also left to think about his brother’s innocence and how this war would affect him.  


Work Cited:


DiFruscia, Kim Turcot. Listening to Voices. An Interview with Veena Das(n.d.): n. pag. Web. 10 Mar.

2016. <http://www.alterites.ca/vol7no1/pdf/71_TurcotDiFruscia_Das_2010.pdf>.


Sontag, Susan. "Regarding The Torture Of Others." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22

May 2004. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/magazine/regarding-the-torture-of-others.html?_r=1>.


Advance Essay #4 : Leader's Authority

Going into this particular unit, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I found that starting off with Tim O'Brien's story, Things We Carried, it gave me the feel of what I wanted to write about. At first, differentiating storytelling and truth, was a huge interest that I had. But then, when I came across an article in Yes! Magazine, the story behind a chief changing and improving a city known of high crimes and homicides, I found that I would and could go off in many directions discussing leaderships and power. And after discussing my idea with Mr. Block and my table mates, I found that it was great topic to write about. With that being said, below is my piece touching upon leaderships, authority, change, and more. 

The angry crowd continued to roar as a staff leader and assistant gave their speech. Citizens, disappointed and acrimonious, continued to stand for their submit. A man, standing far back, reflecting upon the crowd, is holding a sign, “Put the System on Trial”. With the plan of moving forward, the crowd is not satisfied. A few heads are drawn elsewhere while others capture the moment taken on their devices. The rage continues, having the leader to project her voice even with the use of a megaphone. With stern look, the city has made a decision, leaving citizens oblivious and unpleased.

In this world of power, greed, and destruction, we live our everyday lives following the law’s that Congress agreed to put against society. But not everybody follows. It is clear that we have a group who follow and stick to the law, but then we have those who break and go against it. And reality proves that people do not follow.

With the question, how does the authority of a leader affect a population? Yes! Magazine, writes and touches upon the issue with . According to the Police Violence is Not Inevitable article, a police chief, Magnus, who originally stationed in Fargo, North Dakota, was authorized to take role in one of the most high crime rating cities, Richmond, California. With his six month success as chief in Fargo, city officials took risk in wanting to replicate that success where Magnus can greater the community and lower the ratings of homicides. Being that Fargo is known as the safest and whitest place in America, the switch on Magnus having to flee to Richmond with diverse races, it gave him an opportunity to test his power.

Magnus, noticing the lack of engagement in the neighborhoods, suggested that policemen should spend less time in their cop cars and more time on their feet. He later found that by hiring a diversity of officers, it benefited the community.

“‘When you have a department that doesn’t look anything like the community it serves, you’re asking for trouble, no matter how dedicated and professional your employees are,’ he says. ‘So an ongoing mission for us here is to hire the highest-quality people that represent that diversity of the community, across the board. I don’t even just mean from racial, ethnic, or gender standpoint. I mean in terms of life experiences, being connected to neighborhoods, growing up either Richmond or cities like Richmond.’”

Therefore, having a majority of one race can cause trouble that many do not see. As wrong as it sounds, having the same background as to the residences, it releases (what can be) tension and fear because they are around their own kind. With that being said, Magnus’s power in improving Richmond, it’s given the city a benefit of decreasing the rate of homicides. Sadly and shortly enough, a out break on a shooting occurs .

“On September 14, a fatal encounter took place between Wallace Jensen, an officer on foot patrol, and 24-year-old Richard Perez III. Already on probation for a previous gun incident, Perez was intoxicated and resisted arrest after a liquor store clerk reported that he had been shoplifting. According to the responding officer, Perez tried to wrestle his gun away. The three bullets fired at Perez resulted in Richmond’s first deadly “officer-involved shooting” since 2007. Some in the victim’s family wondered why the officer failed to use his Taser or nightstick to subdue Perez. The family retained a civil rights lawyer, who has threatened to sue the city.”

Many, like his family, question the reasoning for the shooting. Jensen could have used any other weapon to threaten Perez, instead he went for the weapon that caused to jump to conclusion. But then you have a side where many would say it was self-defense. At the end of the day, there will always be two sides, but one decision made. And as far as the system decides to investigate, they choose whether Jensen pays or goes.

With that being said, as much as Richmond risen- from the time Magnus had arrived to the outbreak of the shooting, his ability to heal the city and prevent any harm is absurd. Yet, his leaderships and capability of improving the city was noticed. Because of his duties, he has proven that as a leader, leaders influence. His work has shown that driving a population into a certain direction, its outcome may or may not always work. And as far as preventing harm in the community, he has shown that his power is to guide but it may not always end in his favor.



Work Cited


"Police Violence Is Not Inevitable: Four Ways a California Police Chief Connected Cops With Communities." YES! Magazine. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.


Advanced Essay #4 The Cause of Gun Violence

Intro:
While writing this piece, I started off on Militarization. From militarization, I found some sources and tried to create a pro-militarization argument, but it kept getting back to guns. After having a conference with Mr. Block, I narrowed my focus from the general militarization to Police Militarization, and guns v. violence in America. This was also stopping me from finishing the piece; and I submitted the annotated bibliography late. I needed a resolution. I found that mental health was an important aspect in the gun rights argument, so with Mr. Block's advice, I made an argument that more effort should be put toward mental health institutions to prevent crime. I kept argument of arming police forces because I found that it ties into my essay very well. I really enjoyed writing this piece, and hope you enjoy reading it just as much! Please note that the Essential Question I used was the following: "In what different ways is militarism engrained in our society?"

The Cause of Gun Violence

In this modern age, there is much discussion on the place of weapons in society. Some argue that the display and usage of powerful weapons may be detrimental, due to appearance of these weapons in the hands of police officers, and civilians alike. It is reflected in many studies that the presence, or usage of civilian firearms do not have a direct correlation to increased violence, sometimes even leading to reduced violence. Even in the most restricted states, many crimes occur with legally-bought firearms. When examining these cases more deeply, a trend is revealed: mentally-ill perpetrators. In order to better protect against these attacks, arming police forces with military weaponry and vehicles would only benefit society. While some may argue that gun bans or such are beneficial, these proposals would only limit the Second Amendment, while crime continues. The only true way for society to reduce crime would be to improve access to treatment for mentally-ill individuals, and improve the armament of our police forces.
First, allowing law-abiding citizens to own and use firearms does not create violence. The areas where there are more guns may even have less rates of crime and violence. In a Harvard University study, the following data were shown “...violent crime did not increase with increased gun ownership nor did it decline in periods in which gun ownership was lower.” This quote clearly shows that guns, in have not caused an increase or decrease in violence. The key words “violent crime did not increase with increased gun ownership” make the point that areas with higher gun ownership typically do not have more violence than those with lower gun ownership. In fact, areas with more restrictive policies toward gun ownership seem to have more violence. This is shown by data from research in European countries. In Russia, gun ownership is at a rate of 4000 guns per 100,000 people. The number of murders in Russia are 20.54 per 100,000 people. While these numbers may seem small, this is very large compared to, say Macedonia. 16,000 individuals in Macedonia, out of 100,000, own guns. The murder rate in Macedonia 2.31 per 100,000 people. This data shows that a more militarized society, one with more weapons, is safer than one with less weapons. When using both statements in conjunction, one can come to the realization that more guns may actually equal less crime.
After a heist in North Hollywood, California, there has been an influx of military-grade weapons to the police forces. On February 28, 1997, when police responded to the terror attacks, they were met with a group of two heavily armed criminals. It is now know that “They were dressed in black coveralls and ski masks. They were bulked up by 40 pounds of body armor and carried select-fire Kalashnikov rifles, handguns, an HK-91, and fully auto AR-15.” This type of armament was not expected by police, who were armed with standard issue, 9mm caliber pistols and light Kevlar vests. It is important to note that select-fire means that a weapon can fire in both semi- and fully- automatic. This is critical because all firearms sold to civilians are limited to semi-automatic only, meaning that they had been converted by the attackers.
When the police responded, they were unable to contain the threat, and twelve officers and eight civilians were wounded by the robbers. As quoted “At that time, patrol cops' basic armament consisted of semi-automatic pistols and 12-gauge shotguns. While this wasn't the first time patrol officers had been outgunned by professional criminals, patrol officers had never before been engaged in such a protracted, high-intensity firefight.” This further makes it clear that militarization (usage of military gear) of the police forces would have been beneficial in stopping the attackers. When considering the proposed, military-grade weapons that would have been given to the police, the first weapon-system that comes to mind is the AR-15, or M16 variant. This is a 5.56mm rifle platform that can defeat body armor when paired with the correct ammunition. In order to defeat the bank robbers, police actually used AR15 rifles from a nearby gun store, eventually containing the threat. When we consider the benefits of having such a weapon system, it is clear that militarization allows society to be further protected by the police, and gives the police an ability to prevent attacks from happening.
Another example of this is the San Bernardino terrorist attacks that occurred recently. The police response was only four minutes, but 14 civilians were killed. Interestingly, the terrorists were armed with semi-automatic AR-15 rifles, similar to what the North Hollywood shooters used. Over 380 rounds were fired by police, though only 76 were fired by the shooters. The whole ordeal lasted four hours. The terrorists illegally acquired the guns from their neighbor, and modified them. There is a magazine capacity restriction in California, though the terrorists used illegal high capacity ones. They attempted to modify one rifle to fully automatic, and were found with dozens of IED’s and bomb-making materials. They were revealed to have radical beliefs, even aligning with those of mentally ill. Although the terrorists were able to inflict much harm, this was before police had arrived. When forces responded, equipped with military gear, they were quickly able to contain the threat. If the police hadn’t been armed with such weapons, a North Hollywood scenario could have repeated.
Instead of focusing political goals, and funding on restricting the right of the Second Amendment, there should be a focus on mental health in society. In almost all cases, a shooter is often one with a condition that allows them to commit these acts of violence. A case study that explains this is that of Isla Vista, in California. Elliot Rodger shot and stabbed those near the University of California campus, and ended up murdering six. Two key factors to assess in this situation are: 1) gun restrictions, and 2) Affected public health state. This state is defined as the ability for an individual with a mental illness to receive treatment, and prolonged administration of drugs to those with such illness.
California is a state with very restrictive gun legislation. Specific types of firearms restricted include semi-automatic rifles with ‘military-style’ features, including flash hiders, high capacity magazines, and pistol-grips among other things. This is stated California codes §12280, §12285, and §32310 respectively. In order to assess the rating of California from the anti-gun perspective, it received first place, as least friendly to criminals. Along with specific restrictions presented in the codes, it is shown that California is indeed a very restricted state in terms of gun laws. Along with this, California has an ‘F’ rating for affected public health rate. This is defined as a lack of inpatient commitment to treatment, lack of outpatient commitment to treatment, availability of emergency evaluation, and finally, use of laws to prevent crime. As quoted from the Treatment Advocacy Center, “17 states earned a cumulative grade of “D” or “F” for the quality of their laws.” This quote clarifies that the general affected-public health state is low in California, yet also in the rest of the United States.
When one examines this evidence, there is a clear correlation. In this case, California has a very restrictive gun policy, yet a very poor rating for affected-public health rate. Under California's Code Section 5150, as quoted “…a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, [who] is a danger to others, or to himself or herself [a professional may take] the person into custody for a period of up to 72 hours for assessment, evaluation, and crisis intervention, or placement for evaluation and treatment in a facility.” For this law to be applicable to an individual, they must be “a danger to others or to himself.” When determining if Rodgers was a threat, of aforementioned type, they recorded polite and courteous behavior, thus not regarding him as a threat. This behavior prevented police from either searching him for weapons, or detaining him. Due to the prevention of police actions by the law in California, Rodgers was able to open fire on a campus and murder six people.
When looking more detailed at Rodgers, it is shown that the restrictive gun laws did not prevent him from committing murder. Rodgers had passed the Federal Background Check, many other requirements, and legally purchased 3 firearms. In a state with such restrictive laws, it seems incredible that such an act could have occurred. This elucidates the fact that if society puts efforts into restricting firearms, there will generally be no benefit. Instead of preventing crime, millions of law abiding citizens would be restricted their Second Amendment right to self-defense, and yet: mentally ill individuals could still commit acts of terror. This shows that a focus on mental health would be a way to prevent shooting, and crime in general.
Therefore, while some may argue that weapons are detrimental to society, it is clearly not so. In fact, it is shown in countless studies that firearms do not cause violence. Although some may point to appearance of our police forces as an argument, this military gear ensures safety. In many gun-restricted states, crimes occur with firearms, and places where many own firearms tend to have less violence. The perpetrators of mass shootings, and crime in general tend to be mentally-ill. These individuals commit violence even though firearms are heavily regulated. The lack of mental health treatment in these cases is shown to be a direct cause of violence. The only correct way for civilization to reduce crime would be to improve access to treatment for mentally-ill individuals, and to improve the armament of our police forces.



Works Cited


"2013 State Scorecard." Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"Are Mass Killings Associated with Untreated Mental Illness Increasing? - Backgrounder." Treatment Advocacy Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"CA Codes (wic:5150-5155)." Official California Legislative Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

CrimAdvisor. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"How the North Hollywood Shootout Changed Patrol Arsenals - Article - POLICE Magazine." POLICE Magazine - Law Enforcement News, Articles, Videos, Careers & Podcasts. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

McCabe, Bret. "Does the militarization of American police help them serve and protect?" N.p., Web. <hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2015/spring/aclu-militarization-of-police>.

"Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms." PubMed Central (PMC). N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Notitle. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

NSSF | National Shooting Sports Foundation | Firearms Industry Trade Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"Opinion: The Real Gun Problem is Mental Health, Not NRA .com." CNN. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"Reports, Studies, Backgrounders." Treatment Advocacy Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"State Survey." Treatment Advocacy Center Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Treatment Advocacy Center Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"War Gear Flows to Police Departments - The New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. The New York Times, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"WOULD BANNING FIREARMS REDUCE MURDER AND SUICIDE?" Harvard Law School. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.


Advanced Essay #4: Guilt and Its Lasting Affect . . .

My goal for this paper is to analyze the way that guilt influences a soldier’s life. Throughout the process of the paper I have learned that the majority, if not all, soldiers suffer from this emotion whether they admit it or not. However, even if soldiers see their time serving this country as a privilege or not, they can all admit that war changes people and the way they think. A new perspective arises and it adds to the person that they are.



Above is a picture of the Vietnam Memorial Wall located in Washington, D.C. A middle aged white male has his hand placed on a wall that states the names of all the soldiers that died during the Vietnam War. The man is looking down toward the floor, his briefcase beside him. On the wall there is a reflection of about five soldiers standing up and one kneeling down, soldiers whose lives were lost staring back at the man. He is on his from work and he has his sleeves rolled up and his suit jacket sits beside him on top of his briefcase. A small American flag is planted into to ground and it hangs low. The man’s face is scrunched up as if he is starting to get emotional and is trying to prevent tears from running down his face. War is an unique concept of conflict that people who have not experienced it can only sympathize and not empathize.


An essay written by Kevin Sites states that ,“Combat is almost always the shortest and smallest part of any conflict, while collateral damage or civil destruction is war’s most enduring legacy.” The guilt that soldier feels will be carried with them forever.  Although they might have pride and have seen it as a privilege to serve their country, it does not take away from the fact that on that journey sacrifices are made not only with your internal being but with the people around you, the people you love the most.


A CBS NEWS article titled I can’t forgive myself states that ,“Like other officers who've spoken about moral injuries, he also feels responsible for deaths that resulted from orders he gave in other missions. The hardest part, Kudo says, is that "nobody talks about it.” This thought goes along with a book titled The Things They Carried  and how they avoided talking about death even though they faced it everyday. The characters in the book would desensitize the tragedies they had to deal with. Humor was often used to downplay the circumstances that they have endured. They used multiple methods in order to avert their thoughts from the adversities that have occurred.  Despite the various methods used, aren’t they all coping mechanisms?

Regardless of the coping mechanism that is used by an individual, if you do not talk about it then it will start haunting you inside. Our soldiers have “wounded souls,” in accordance with the CBS NEWS article mentioned above. Although these “souls” might be repaired they will never return to being the same as they were before. When they leave the war a part of themselves is lost and it can never be recovered. Many people, especially doctors and other medical advisors,  just lump soldiers into the PTSD category but in reality who wouldn’t suffer from that “illness”  if they were not in war, witnessing the deaths of both civilians and criminals everyday and having to be watching it all, if not actually partaking in those actions? No one is fully capable to dismiss those images from their head. These soldiers might not actually be sick, but they are just the product of the wicked environment they have been placed in. A system which undoubtedly causes these effects on them.

 Now what outlets are available in order for people to repair their wounded souls? In article titled Coping with Survivor Guilt & Grief it is reported that, “Guilt is a common reaction to loss and it can ultimately be part of the healing process. However, if it is not addressed, excessive guilt can lead to psychological health concerns, such as depression, apathy or generalized anxiety.” While guilt is usually the emotional reaction to a traumatic event, grief is the actual healing process. When lives are lost , the feeling of one’s humanity automatically decreases.  There needs to be more organizations that promote this healing process in a healthy way that gives drugs as a last resort instead of the first. It becomes difficult to empathize with someone if you never lived through the situation that they have faced. Nevertheless, that does not mean that we should stop trying. We need to understand that this guilt travels with them from war to home to carrying out their daily activities. Most of this guilt is due to the responsibility that soldiers feel for the lives lost both during the war and when they return home and lose contact with other soldiers they have served with. Still, we need to see these emotions as  Mike Felker, Veteran of the U.S. Navy does, he says, “Guilt is the driving force.” Guilt prompts us to continue to discover who we are and helps us stay in tune with our emotions. The acknowledgment of  guilt being present in our minds and hearts helps us grow through self-reflection.


Works Cited


"Coping with Survivor Guilt & Grief." Real Warriors. Defense Centers of Excellence. Web. 17 Mar. 2016. <http://www.realwarriors.net/active/treatment/survivorguilt.php >.


“ ‘I Can't Forgive Myself'': U.S. Veterans Suffering Alone in Guilt over Wartime Events." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/i-cant-forgive-myself-us-veterans-suffering-alone-in-guilt-over-wartime-events/ >.


Kevin Sites. "How Do Soldiers Live with Their Feelings of Guilt? - Kevin Sites - Aeon Essays." Aeon. Aeon Essays, 09 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <https://aeon.co/essays/how-do-soldiers-live-with-their-feelings-of-guilt >.


Major Rebecca Lange. "Service Before Self: Reflections on Military and Civilian Service." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/major-rebecca-lange/service-before-self-refle_b_6135730.html >.




Under Which Circumstances Does Discrimination Lead To Acts of Violence?


I was anticipating a topic like this for our class. I came up with the idea of "does discrimination cause violence" to being and I wanted to write an informative essay, in the form of an editorial. One goal I had was to sue current and past events that covered a wide spectrum of discrimination that led to acts of violence and cover what forms of discrimination were used and specifically how people were manipulated into violent acts. Knowing these events all changed the course of history, I knew that discrimination was the root for their downfalls.


Throughout the history of our world, there have been social outcasts. Social outcasts are groups like your nationality, race or gender where they’re believed to be beneath the other groups. Every society has always had some form of structural discrimination. The problem with discrimination is not just the rise in hate itself, but the brutality that follows. There are hundreds of societies and civilizations that could show how if you don’t fit the profile, expect harm to be done onto you. Discrimination leads to acts of violence under the circumstances of fear, hate, faith, and a structural system which has bent the minds of the oppressors to commit senseless acts of violence.


During the thirty-one year rule of Rafael Trujillo, the Dominican Republic became a very violent place where one man controlled the voices of millions. Trujillo was determined to make his country great, but in his image. His image was being “diminished” by his neighbors in Haiti. At this time, the border between the countries was bending. In order to take complete control of his nation he ordered the execution of all Haitians residing in the Dominican Republic. In order to prove your nationality, people were forced to pronounce the word “Parsley” in Spanish. The hate spun by Rafael Trujillo killed almost 20,000 people. The circumstances that led to this act of violence was a corrupt structured system that ensured this dictator could remain in power.


Worldwide, there is a group that has been discriminated against in the name of fear and faith. Since civilization had begun, being gay was condemned, often by those who believe that being gay is “immoral.” Worldwide the act of homosexuality has been scrutinized to the point where a person’s sexual orientation has led to attacks, imprisonment, killings and discrimination. In our own country, over 15% of registered hate crimes are for homosexuality. In our own city, the stance inherited from hate led to two gay men being attacked in 2015. Up until 1973, those were who were gay were labeled as mentally ill; which led to “curing and treatments” to remove your sexuality. Some treatments featured electrical shock and prayer. It is a shame that we live in a world where some find happiness and that happiness is labeled as an illness. In many nations, acts of homosexuality are crimes, which have led to gays remaining silent. In Uganda, acts of homosexuality leave you with long prison sentences, life in prison, you can even be charged with the death penalty. Concerning homosexuality, hate, fear, faith and the system have led to discrimination of gays which has led to generations of violence for equal rights.


The United States was founded with a disgraceful institution by the name of slavery. Slavery had a successor, segregation. Segregation was an institution that built a privilege for whites and discriminated persons of color. Equal rights were not present in this time if in the means of access to services or in the justice system. This form of discrimination was dismissed legally which led to violent acts that were often also dismissed. Lynching was a form of killing violently used by the public to often prove a point. Lynchings happened for rape, murder and even something as little as an insult. Lynching became an epidemic, used for petty rseason which left thousands dead, mostly blacks. Nearly 73% of people lynched before it was outlawed were black. This form of violence came under the circumstances of hate and a system that promoted this form of violence. When you don’t enforce the law it is exploited and it was done during the lynching era.


Discrimination exists today, there are countless modern examples but none hit as close to home as Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a famous businessman for his antics and has a reckless reputation. He carries that same rap on his campaign trail, where his unique stances on various demographic and political issues have raised an eyebrow. He has many many critics who oppose him. In Chicago, there were tens of thousands who successfully shut his rally down chanting “We Stumped Trump.” But his momentum grows despite the violence he has brought. There have been brawls, threats and a stalemate from his following and foes. Donald Trump has used fear to incite violence. How? He says he would attack his protesters, and threatening that Americans are endangered unless they believe in his cause. In a democracy, violence can’t be promoted by leadership.


When fear, hate, faith and a failing system permit and ignore discrimination, people lead into actions of violence. Acts of violence are built up inside somebody from these factions, in a society that too often disregards discrimination. To use false rhetoric and allow discrimination, we can do nothing but expect heinous acts of violence. These acts change society because when you release this discrimination we restrict everyone’s ability to think and speak freely, which means we are no longer working towards a peaceful world.



MLA Cites:
""I Have a Dream"" Archives. Government. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. <https://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf>.
Lynching Statistics." Chestnut Archive. Charles Chestnut Digital Archive, 29 Jan. 1999. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.
"Transcript: Hear Harvey Milk's The Hope Speech." Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum of Fine Arts. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.
"Trujillo." Trujillo. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. <https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~nunez20y/worldpolitics/who was rafael leonidas trujillo.html>.

Lead Poisoning

Lead poisoning is very dangerous and most people know that if something has high amounts of lead, they should probably steer clear of it. Even with that not many people know why that is the case. Lead is a very dangerous element because of how reactive it is. It replaces metals such as zinc in iron in the chemical reactions that take place in our body. While they do replace metals in chemicals they also cause genes to be turned on and off which can have catastrophic effects on the body. It also inhibits proteins such as the ones related to the control of blood pressure and sperm production in males. It accumulates in the body so lead poisoning can take place over years and gets worse if not treated. The effects of lead poisoning include decreased bone and muscle growth, poor muscle coordination, damage to the nervous system kidneys, and/or hearing, speech and language problems, developmental delay, seizures, and unconsciousness. Many of these side affects are associated with children because they are undergoing several critical periods which lead poisoning interferes with.

Children are more susceptible and are more likely to get it because of the frequency at which they put things in their mouth. Some toys and even paint chips which contain lead and it is not uncommon for children to have to go to the emergency room because of it. The government tries to hide the level of lead in products which parents need to know to protect their children. The most recent scandal involving the government hiding their knowledge of lead was in Flint, Michigan. The city had lead their water for 2 years before the people knew about it and while the government did know they did nothing about. According to a study done at Virginia Tech where they took water samples from homes in Flint, Michigan the 90th percentile of their samples contained 25 parts per a billion as opposed to the EPA's legal limit of 15. The citizens are now reacting and are asking for those who are responsible to be held accountable. People all across the country are now checking their water for lead content with a surprising amount finding them high.

Personally I don't think Philly would ever let itself have this much of a lead problem. What I could envision is a small accident that they don't catch in time to warn the people who use the water of what is happening. Lead poisoning is of greatest concern in factories as many electronics use lead. In China, there are also several children who work in factories and are very susceptible to lead poisoning. Lead poisoning can easily be prevented by educating people about it.

Sources:

E1 U5 Aden

Aden's poem (1)

creativita, hermano, contento.

Veo ciudad edificio.

Oigo construcción.

Huelo la playa las vacaciones.

Saboreo yo no gusto el sabor eneo la manana.

Toco jubilo.

Como en las celebraciones.

Nosotros vamos a sitios diferente en vacaciones.

Mama y papa preocupase para mi.

Yo paso el rato con amigos y hermano.

Nosotros vamos a st. thomas para vacaciones.


E1U5: Mi Vida - Shilo Kendall

Mi Vida

Soy Yo

Los recuerdos desde mi infancia

Los llevo siempre conmigo

La hija de mis padres

Mi mascota de mi hermana mayor


Veo los colores de las pinturas

Saboreo dulces y pasteles

Oigo los sonidos de música y risotada

Huelo las velas y comidas

Toco el pelo de mi mascota  


Viajar, nunca voy a olvidarlo

Nado en los lagos de Wisconsin

Corro con los venados

Balio con los árboles de Ohio


Somos productos de Filadelfia

Vivo en Filadelfia

Hablamos inglés

La lengua de música y cultura

No somos Centro Americanos

No somos Costarricenses

Somos Americanos

Y somos orgullosos


Music provided by Orion

5 Minute of Science

                      Sarcasm is Good for You. Seriously



The Science in Sarcasm


A joint study carried out from Harvard, Columbia and the European Business school, INSEAD, recently in 2015 published their work on how sarcasm expands the creative mind. The highlighted statement of their research basically says that by using sarcasm, creativity is promoted through abstract thinking for both the speaker and the listener. And although sarcasm might cause conflict, especially when there is not a stable relationship between the two, the content of the sarcasm does not affect the increase of creativity. Constructing and understanding sarcasm involves an intricate and complex connections between different parts of the brain. But in general, the left hemisphere of the brain understands the literal meaning while the right take in the implied meaning of a sarcastic comment. Then the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex connects the two understandings and figures which meaning is meant.     



Society


Sarcasm is often used in conversations. It's a way people can entwine humor into something more serious but often, it can cause conflict and hurt feelings. Workplaces discourage it’s use due to certain consequences it could led to. Communication experts and marriage counselors find this form of language destructive and disapprove it’s use while some others believe it’s pure meanness concealed. However, recent research allowing society to perceive sarcasm in a new light by presenting how it stimulates creativity has created news and talk. Now as we’re move forward into a modern time, the use of sarcasm is also becoming more widespread, but there are still those who adhere to its old beliefs.     



Self


This topic stuck out to me because it’s interesting and it’s true. I’ve always seen sarcastic people to be very creative communicating their messages. So it makes perfect sense that using sarcasm exercises distinct parts of the brain and helps people be more creative. Concurrently, I also agree with people who find the language destructive, I can see and understand why sarcasm should not be used. There just needs to be more caution when using it. People should exercise communicating through creative remarks and make each other laugh.  



References:
 
Sarcasm Is Good For You. Seriously. (2015, September 9). Retrieved March 15, 2016, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/31aa1030bef9e3c53eae36998850e1a8.htm 

Pazzanese, C. (2015, July 24). Go ahead, be sarcastic. Retrieved March 16, 2016, from http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/07/go-ahead-be-sarcastic/ 

 Huang, Li, Gino Francesca, and Adam D. Galinsky. The Highest Form of Intelligence: Sarcasm Increases Creativity for Both Expressers and Recipients. Hbs.edu. Elsevier, 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication Files/Huang Gino Galinsky OBHDP 2015_f4efb1e9-b842-4764-a292-ac4836c29cb2.pdf>.  


 

Mycorrhiza and the Wood Wide Web

    Mycelia is the body of a fungus that connects to roots of plants. Mushrooms are just the reproductive part of the fungus as flowers are to plants. There are many different subcategories of mycelia and for this post I will be focussing more or less exclusively on mycorrhiza. The mycorrhizal connection forms what is referred to as the “wood wide web” and allows trees, shrubs, and plants of all types to share information and nutrients with their neighboring plants. Experiments have shown that carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus can be passed along underground between plants which would account for the survival of small plants on the forest floor which are too deeply shaded to make enough food through photosynthesis.


Experiments have also shown that mycorrhizae are efficient transport systems for chemical messages between plants. One plant can signal others in the vicinity when there is a pest and natural repellents are needed so that others can start producing the needed chemicals before there is a full blown infestation. These are just two of the functions of mycorrhizae that we have discovered. There may be even more. We do know however that plants with a strong underground system of mycorrhizae are healthier than their counterparts.


Plants and mycorrhizae have a symbiotic relationship, meaning that they both support each other. While the plants provide the mycorrhizae with carbohydrates, the mycorrhizae help supply the plants with water, nitrogen, and phosphorous. The mycorrhizae also helps boost the plant’s immune system by triggering  chemicals that help defend it from harmful bacteria or diseases. The health of plants is essential especially when it comes to cleaning the air of carbon dioxide and repurposing pollution into oxygen.


Mycorrhizae also help to reform soil. Mycelium are what can break down rocks and mineral and turn them into nutrient rich soil. Regenerative agriculture is better than simply sustainable agriculture in that it depends on nature’s tendency to revert to a closed nutrient loop, greater biological diversity and a reliance on internal rather than external resources. The mycorrhizae are part of the healthy soil that makes regenerative agriculture possible, because in a healthy soil, plants can handle drought, insect attacks and nutrient absorption without chemicals from external sources. This kind of farming results in no nutrient runoff or pollution of waterways because regenerative soil retains its nutrients.


    The “wood wide web” works similarly to the human brain. The mycorrhizal connections are similar to the neurons in how they transfer signals and chemicals. Another way I can relate to mycorrhizae is through horticulture. I have always been intrigued by plants and this information has completely altered my perspective of my surroundings.

   


References:

Fleming, N. (2014, November 11). Plants Talk to Each Other Using an Internet of Fungus. Retrieved March 16, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141111-plants-have-a-hidden-internet


Giovannetti, M., Avio, L., Fortuna, P., Pellegrino, E., Sbrana, C., & Strani, P. (2006, January). At the Root of the Wood Wide Web: Self Recognition and Non-Self Incompatibility in Mycorrhizal Networks. Retrieved March 16, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2633692/


Stamets, P. (2016, March 16). Mushrooms as Medicine. Lecture presented at Exponential Medicine. Retrieved March 16, 2016, from Fleming, N. (2014, November 11). Plants Talk to Each Other Using an Internet of Fungus. Retrieved March 16, 2016, from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/03/14/mushroom-healing-power.aspx?e_cid=20160314Z1_DNL_art_3&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art3&utm_campaign=20160314Z1&et_cid=DM100397&et_rid=1398413319