Blog due March 1, 2011

I think it is important for others to know about what ingredients are in all of the products they use. I recently found out that most cosmetics, fragrances, and most bathing products have harmful toxins in them that are not displayed on the bottles. The chemicals found in these products are known carcinogens but the companies are not required to say anything on the labels! Most products used today have been proven to cause cancer, birth defects, organ damage, and many other long term problems.

A question I would like answered is, “What happens after death and is there a god?” This is such a huge debate in the world. I would like to know the real answer to it because so many of my other questions would be answered. I have been struggling with my beliefs my whole life because Christianity has always been pushed on me, but I have had a hard time completely understanding it. There are things about Christianity that I don’t believe or things that do not make sense to me. Also, I’m not scared of death, but I am definitely curious about what happens after. Is there a heaven and hell? I

I have always used singing as a creative outlet. I didn’t sing in public until recently, but I would always sing my heart out in my room or whenever I am driving in my car. Singing always makes me feel better. I am just starting to sing more because I have always been really nervous to sing in public. This will be my creative outlet once again because I lost my main outlet when I stopped taking art classes.  

Can there ever be world citizenship?

This article was very impactful because the author brought up a few very interesting points. I realized from this article that our process of the United Nations does not work very well right now because everyone is so selfish. There will never be world citizenship if people continue to go after one another. We need to come together and accept that we are all, “a family that shares the earth with all living things.” I think Boulder makes a good point when he states, “If children in every country grew up learning about the United Nations and how it works, and how their country works in the United Nations…  Getting to know their United Nations citizenship would be part of the great learning adventure of growing up on a planet earth and becoming familiar with all its diversity of people, states, sociocultures and bio cultures.” I completely agree with this because then children would learn that there are more people in the world than them and that what their country does can affect the whole world.

This article relates to a few of the readings we have had in class already. The ones that stick out to me are “Make Our Ugly Discourse Better” and “Why I like vicious, anonymous online comments”. The ideas in Make Our Ugly Discourse Better were very similar to the ideas of Boulder because they both believe that there are more peaceful ways to change the world. Fighting and butting heads does not change peoples’ minds. If you calmly explain what you want and feel then people respond better.

Why I like vicious, anonymous online comments is relevant to Boulder’s article because it shows what the world is becoming, cruel, vicious, and detrimental. Until people learn to be more civil toward one another, the world will not get better. It’s time to change by being more positive and connecting to our worldwide family!

So the answer to this question is, Yes, there can be world citizenship, but not until everyone is willing to give and become civil with one another. 

Generation Y

These articles were difficult for me to read because I disagree with a lot of what these writers are saying. Our generation has potential to be the smartest and most innovative group of people this world has ever seen. Yes, there is a significant chunk of us who would rather paint their nails or watch football than get a job, but sooner or later they will learn that life is not that easy. Also, we were brought up this way because of all the influences we have in our life. If athletes and celebrities weren't praised so much for their performances, and if YouTube didn't get so much attention from the generation BEFORE us, then we would not have any desire to be like these people. Raina Kelley states in her article that, "The famously egocentric

wide receiver Terrell Owens declares at a press conference that being labeled selfish is fine with him. Donald Trump names everything he owns after himself and calls his detractors "losers."' These are the people we are growing up and idolizing. Are they in Generation-Y? I don't think so.

Judith Warner states that, "with their seemingly inexhaustible well of positive self-regard, their refusal to have their horizons be defined by the limitations of our era, they just may bear witness to the precise sort of resilience that all parents, educators and pop psychologists now say they view as proof of a successful upbringing." This shows that we were brought up this way because people think it is "the right way". Why are we being blamed for something that PAST generations have created?

Out of the two articles, The Why-Worry Generation by Judith Warner was the most irritating. The question I ask to the author is, what is wrong with aspiring for "a job that’s not just a job but an expression of their identity, a form of self-fulfillment"? Is it really so terrible that we want to work for a company we love and believe in? The people in Generation-Y are already proving to be more intelligent and capable in the work place than past generations. The difference is that we are adapting to the change in technology and our environment. There are entrepreneurs out there who are younger than 16 years old. I haven't heard of many of those in the past. We understand that it is a competitive world out there, and the people who decide to be lazy will most likely end up homeless. These articles make students seem like they don't have to work hard to get what they want. What about the massive decrease in college acceptance letters or the limited number of scholarships given out to students in need? There is plenty of competition, just different than what past generations are used to.

I do agree with one statement from Genertion Me by Raina Kelley, though. She states that Generation-Y is, "without the resiliency skills they need when Mommy and Daddy can't fix something." This is definitely true because we grew up believing that two people can fix all of our problems by a short email or phone call. I think we rely on our parents too much these days, because of the way we are brought up. In the past, it seemed like parents were a lot less intrusive on their childrens' daily lives. Now, our parents need to know where we are or what we are doing at all times. When there is a problem, they fix it, because they want what is best for their children. Children need to experience the consequences of their actions or else they will never learn. Hopefully this is one thing that will change in the future.

In conclusion, I find these articles altogether ridiculous. They are hypocrites in my opinion, because they do not see how their generation has impacted us. They are critiquing Generaton-Y for their passiveness on the current recession, when they are the reason we are in this recession in the first place. Obviously something needs to change. Maybe this new narcissistic attitude will prevent things like poor presidency, or an economic crash from happening in the future.

The Ways We Lie

The White Lie
A white lie is one of the most common lies that people do. They are common because it's so easy and often undestructive. An example of a white lie would be if a friend asked you if they had anything in their teeth and you answered No to protect their feelings or to make them not feel embarrassed.

Facade
An example of a facade lie would be if a person went on a first date and talked themselves up in order to impress the other. Like if a man were to dress up nicely to look wealthy or if he told his date that he had a mansion and nice car.

Ignoring the Plain Facts
I've been involved in a situation where my coach would ignore the plain facts on our soccer team. An upper classman used to mess around with the freshmen (often times it was me) on a regular basis. I informed my coach of the problem but he chose not to do anything because the girl was one of the best players on the team. Losing her, even though she was a horrible teammate, would most likely cost our season. She never got any consequences for her actions.

Deflecting
I think deflecting is used in situations such as anorexic people in order to fool everyone into thinking they are eating. If they are asked, they usually change the subject of the conversation so that people forget about what they were talking about before.

Omission
An omission lie would be used when a person is telling her boyfriend about her night but leaves out the little parts that would make him upset. Like, not saying that there were any boys at the get together they went to or that she didn't drink any alcohol.

Stereotyping and Cliches
A common stereotype is that women should always be "in the kitchen". I hate this stereotype because I usually hear stupid comments like, "Make me a sandwich, woman!".

Groupthink
A groupthink lie would be if a group of people, for example a soccer team, underestimates the team they are playing in their upcoming game. Since the other team had a poor season they think they could beat them without trying. Unfortunately when gametime comes around, they lose because they didn't try hard enough to win.

Out-and-Out Lies
This type of lying reminds me of when a student forgets to do their homework and their excuse to the teacher is, "My dog ate my homework." or something bizarre like that.

Dismissal
A dismissal lie could be told when a boyfriend cheats on his girlfriend and he still continues to say that he is faithful. He would be dismissising the fact that he was not faithful in the past and ultimately lying to his girlfriend.

Delusion
A delusion lie is commonly used among students when they think that they are "bad" at a subject or that they just dont get it. The reason why they don't get a subject would only be because they haven't put all the effort needed into understanding it. The reason they are "bad" at it is because they need to try harder to learn.

Rant about teachers who give homework over the weekend

I don't understand why teachers in middle school and high school always feel the need to give homework over the weekends. IT'S THE WEEKEND. That is why we have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, AND Friday to do our work. Do they not realize that we are KIDS that have other things to do other than read a chapter of a stupid boring book or practice ridiculous math problems? I would much rather go outside and enjoy a nice day instead of spending all day in my room, doing work on MY time off. They always complain when we take up their time during class by talking or goofing off, but what do they expect when OUR time is taken up by their stupid assignments? We only get two freaking days out of the week to enjoy ourselves but usually they are occupied by essays, math, or reports that are due that Monday! Why can’t they be due on Tuesday? Do they not remember what it was like when they were kids and wanted to go out and have fun? Maybe children would start liking school if the teachers respected their free time more. Just because we are kids does not mean we don’t have rights. Would you want to work overtime on the weekends? I don’t think so. Most of us have sports, jobs, hobbies, or other things that we need to focus on instead of another assignment that should have been given on one of the WEEKDAYS. We only get two out of seven days anyway! Don’t punish us because you feel like grading more papers or because you can’t organize your coursework better. 

Online Guidelines

1. Have comments forwarded to your Facebook page so that others can see what you post.
2. Don't let comments be anonymous anymore. Require mandatory log in in order to post comments.
3. Encourage users to flag or report vicious comments.
4. "Bleep" out profanity.
5. Suspend account from website if comments are a problem.
6. The people who post articles can choose whether or not they want anonymous comments on their post.

Response to "Make Our Ugly Discourse Better: Join the Civilogue"

Jeffrey Weiss, the correspondent of this article was very inspiring because he suggested ways to fix the problem that is occurring today. He is completely correct that the constant criticism has gotten out of hand. It’s time to put people in their place by doing it in an effective way. The only method that will work with most people is to, “call them on it. Do it politely, with kindness and consideration. But do it clearly and cleanly, with a humble explanation of what they did wrong.” This statement was the “hotspot” of this article because it states a clear way to fix the issue at hand. We could yell or criticize back to these people but all that will do is give them more fuel for their next complaint. The only way to get it into their heads is to give them straight facts.

It is sad that individuals feel the desire to disagree with everything they hear about. The truth is, what people hear isn’t always right. Information is always twisted around by the media and gossip, so what you hear is not always what is real. Weiss says, “If I write about cancer treatments, I do not feel obliged to quote someone who is in favor of illness. And when it comes to the hateful, divisive, inaccurate, dishonest, hypocritical language that sets itself up as so much political discourse these days, I need not tweeze out some specious justification in the name of illusory "balance." The more people focus or “tweeze” out unpleasant information, the more they are going to get. You attract what you put your attention on, so they are ultimately making that choice. 

"Why I like vicious, anonymous online comments" Response

This reading was very interesting and relevant to me because I have seen a lot of cruel anonymous comments posted online in my life. I have actually had comments posted about me in high school that ended up hurting my feelings pretty bad. When I was a freshman, there was a popular application on Myspace called the “Truth Box”. The Truth Box was a tool that people added to find out what their friends “really” thought about them, and all the comments were anonymous. I added one and ended up receiving all kinds of comments like, “You’re ugly”, “You’re fat”, “You suck at soccer” or even, “nobody likes you”. These comments were so hurtful to me because I had never done anything to these people to make them say these things to me. After a while I realized that these people obviously felt the desire to hurt others because they are really insecure about themselves.

In this reading, Matt Zollier Seitz stated that, “More likely they're people who in daily life get argued with, shut out, stepped on or otherwise treated with less than the reverence they believe they deserve. So they wade into comments sections to act out power fantasies -- the righteous truth-telling antihero, the schoolyard bully, the class clown -- with some assurance that their wife or mom or kids won't find out and ask, "What on earth is wrong with you?” I definitely agree with this statement because a lot of the people I know who post these harsh comments are usually very insecure or mistreated people themselves. It is normal for people to try to tear others down to make themselves feel better, but unfortunately the internet makes it so easy to do without undergoing any consequences.

The “hotspot” of this reading was at the end when Seitz related these comments to a global problem, discrimination. He indicated that, “It's impossible for anyone who reads un-moderated comments threads on large websites to argue that racism, sexism or anti-Semitism are no longer problems in America, or that the educational system is not as bad as people say or that deep down most people are good at heart.” This was a very bold statement because it is 100% true. This is still an obvious problem in the world, today, and it isn’t going to change until these actions stop. 

Quickwrite - What is freedom?

In my opinion, freedom is the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want with no restrictions from the government or other people. When a person has freedom that means they don’t have to follow any rules or constraints when they do a particular thing. I feel like we are free to a certain extent in the United States, because although we are given the opportunity to protect our life, liberty and property, we still are confined by laws and rules from the government.

Most people have conflicts with their freedom at some point in their life, whether it is with the law, parents, school, or work. In my experience, I felt that my freedom was limited by my father. Until recently, my father always thought that he could make the ultimate decisions in MY life, and when I wanted to do something I had to make sure it was okay with him. I was never allowed to go out or do anything unless it was okay with him. I felt like my freedom was very limited because even though I was technically an adult at 18, I was still following the rules that my father made for me when I was 15 years old. Finally, over winter break we agreed that I am grown up now and I should be allowed to make decisions for myself. I am now allowed to do what I want and as a result it has brought my father and I much closer to each other. Now that I am given my freedom, I choose to spend more of that time with my dad instead of trying to resist him.

Giving people their freedom is very important today because there are always individuals who rebel against authority. Taking away freedom does not settle well with most, so the most effective way to keep people happy and safe is to give them what they want most... their freedom.