Prison Women

 

For the article “Is Prison Worse for Women”, the author didn’t really talk much about why it is supposedly worse for the women. I found it to be a very short article and when I was finished reading it I was still wondering why prison is worse for women. One point that the article makes is that women’s prisons want more female guards. I can understand why this would be and I also think it is a good idea. These women or any women for that matter don’t want to have male guards sexual harassing them or invading their privacy. Could you blame them? Other than this issue, the article goes on to talk about the numbers of women that are in prison. As I mentioned earlier in this post, my questions weren’t really answered in this article. I would like to know more information on why prison is worse for women than it is for men. Is it just because the male guards sometimes sexually harass the women, is it the lack of privacy or is it because two-thirds of the women in prison are mothers? Just based on the information that I was provided with in this article, I can’t understand why prison would be worse for women.

Good For Kids?

The title of this article being “Same Sex Marriage is Good For Kids”, I thought there would be a lot more information regarding kids involved in these situations. I think I was expecting more of how same sex marriage would benefit a child. The article says that keeping same sex marriage in New Hampshire is good because it shows kids that everyone is equal. Another part of the article states that if the same sex law was repealed then it would be damaging to gay kids. Honestly, I don’t think there will ever be an end to this controversial topic. No matter what laws are passed or repealed, which states allow same sex marriage and don’t, there will always be people who are all for it or all against it. I think this issue will always be around. In my opinion I think that children should grow up with a father and a mother. I don’t want to say whether I am for same sex marriage or not because I don’t want to offend anybody. The article talks a lot about kids being bullied due to this issue. However, I don’t think that passing a law for same sex marriage would put a stop to the bullying at all.

TV Show Child Abuse

I have to admit, I do like to watch the shows Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms. It seems like whenever I put the shows on they are always on a marathon and before you know it I watch the whole season. Many people may not like these shows but I happen to find them to be entertaining. I do not see it as child abuse. In some cases on Toddlers and Tiaras the young kids don’t want to perform in the pageants and are forced to anyway. However, there are many kids that do say that they love to perform and participate in them. The kids are so young. As far as Dance Moms goes, the dance instructor is very harsh. She does criticize both the kids and the moms to a point when you are shocked. However, if it was really considered child abuse would she be getting away with it? I am pretty sure that for both of these shows or any other TV shows that people think are showing “child abuse” they wouldn’t be on TV. Why would anyone film that and get themselves into trouble. If it really was child abuse I’m sure they wouldn’t get so many viewers. People are not going to watch a child getting abused.

Winnie Has Disorders?

Let me begin by saying that as soon as I opened up this article and read the short introduction I thought “oh great, what is this going to be about”? I think that this article was completely ridiculous for someone to write. Honestly, nobody thinks this way about Winnie the Pooh! Out of all of the times I have watched Winnie and his friends, even when I got older, not once did one of these thoughts go through my mind. I am sure that the creators of the show didn’t intend on it to be interpreted like this. It is a cute show that almost all kids love to watch. Why can’t it just stay as simple and innocent as that? Winnie doesn’t have OCD or ADHD or any other disorder and I really don’t want to think of it any other way. I must admit though that this article was quite interesting to read and I found myself coming to a little chuckle here and there. This has also happened before with another children’s show, the Telletubbies. With that show people over analyzed one of the characters and brought of issues of his “sexual orientation”. I find it ridiculous.

Online Piracy

Well, this article is what I chose to write my paper 1 on. I thought it was kind of an interesting article because I never really noticed that there are some positives to online piracy. Before I read this article I just thought that online piracy was bad and you just shouldn’t do it because it is wrong. In a way, online piracy is stealing. However, after reading through this article and really thinking about it I realized that online piracy is not causing America to suffer at all. I agree with what Matthew Yglesias says in this article. People participate in copyright infringement simply because nobody wants to pay the high prices for things such as music and movies. Due to the fact that we don’t want to pay the high prices, we tend to lean to sources to illegally download the things we want. The whole point of this article was does online piracy really need to be stopped? Yes, it is morally not the right thing to do, but who are we harming? The entertainment industry doesn’t seem to be suffering because people are illegally downloading music. There is no way to penalize every person that participates in online piracy.  

Twitter Censorship

This week’s article is similar to the article that I chose to use for my paper 1. I am not really sure what stand the author of this article is taking. I just know that freedom of speech is one of our  American Amendments. If we truly have freedom of speech then why are our thoughts and words being blocked on websites such as twitter? I don’t understand why they would block our tweets. I also don’t understand why the information that we post on twitter would be censored in different countries. I think that if you are going to post something on twitter then you are exercising your freedom of speech and it should have the ability to be read throughout the world if that is something that you want. The article states that there is a code that can prevent your tweets from being censored. What is the point in blocking tweets if all you need to do is insert a code and you can avoid it from being blocked? The whole thing just seems pointless to me then. I can’t believe that people would actually go to court to challenge their tweet that was being blocked. I just don’t think it is that serious.  

Glamorizing Teen Pregnancy

Teen pregnancy is a very hard thing to go through. When you are having a child when you are so young you are sure to face a ton of struggles. I find it ridiculous that these girls that got pregnant so young have TV shows and are put on the cover of magazines. When this happens it makes it seem like teen pregnancy is ok. I definitely agree with everything that the writer of this article said. I feel like it puts the thought in young girls mind that I am young, if I have a baby then I can be on a TV show and then get paid a lot of money and become famous.  When they have shows like 16 and pregnant it sends out the wrong message. It may be an interesting show to watch whenever you’re bored and have absolutely nothing else to do. However, teen pregnancy is not glamorous. It is a lot of hard work. Especially for the teenage mothers who aren’t getting paid for it. I do not understand why teenage mothers need a television show about them and their baby. Why is it that you get a show because you are 16 when there are millions of people giving birth every day? This is just one of those things that I don’t get.

Legalizing Marijuana

It took me a couple of times to read this article before I really grasped what the author was trying to say. In the beginning I was a little unsure. I am not really sure how I stand on the legalizing marijuana issue. The author of this article clearly wants marijuana to be legal. The author was saying that 80 year olds should have their licenses taken away and give them marijuana. I disagree with that only because I feel like most 80 year olds are so out of it as it is and are possibly already taking every medication out there. I think that marijuana is definitely not something that 80 year olds need. The author brought up some great points about how much money the government spends on marijuana related things. The article says that 47.5% of drug arrests are marijuana related. I personally think that too many people are smoking marijuana and the ages of people smoking are getting younger and younger.  Like I said earlier, I am unsure of my standing on this issue. All I can say is that if marijuana was legalized then it would cut down on a lot of arrests and costs. However, the downfall is that people won’t be in the right state of mind.

New Technologies

Well, I would just like to start off by saying that the author of this article seems extremely upset and is completely against new technology. I can see where the writer is coming from when he talks about all of the different kinds of new technology. What I don’t understand is why he is so angry about it. The main thing that he seems to be against is the kindle. Many people in my family own kindles and they all love it. They all say that it is so great that you don’t have to go to the library and rent a book and then have to return it. It is so much easier to read a book and not have the actual book in your hand. I am just not sure why this person is so upset by it. Having and developing new technologies is a good thing and people love it. If you happen to be extremely against it like the writer is, then you simply don’t need to buy it. You can still go to the library every time you want to read a book. But don’t forget, you are going to have to return it on time.  No one is forcing you to change with the new technologies.

Standardized Testing

This article was about what happens when adults take the mandatory state provided standardized testing. I found this article to be very interesting. I find it ridiculous how these tests can prevent you from going to college. It is amazing to me that this guy who wrote the article is so well educated with a bachelor degree, two masters’ degrees and some on his way for a doctorate, yet he can’t get a decent grade on the standardized test. This says something to me. I am convinced that these tests are unnecessary. Does one test like this really determine how smart you are? Should a test like this determine what class level you should be placed in? Some people, including myself, are just not the best test takers. So basically, it doesn’t matter what kind of grades you got throughout the year in tenth grade. If you do poorly on this test, then all your hard work was basically a waste. I agree with what the writer says that the information that is asked on the test is nothing that you will need to know for a career. So I ask myself, what really is the point of standardized testing?

Hazing

After reading the editorial: A new approach on hazing needed, I have come to the conclusion that I completely agree. The article states that hazing is a crime; however, it is such a common thing that happens. Why is it that people have to engage and participate in hazing? Do they not realize that people are dying because of this? I guess people just see it as being fun, and like the article said, it creates a challenge. Well like the old saying goes, “it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt”. Is it really that important to “belong” to potentially put your life at risk? Apparently to some it is. The article is full of examples of people who have died because of hazing. Providing all of the examples is good because it really convinces you that hazing is wrong and that they do need a new approach on hazing. I feel like as much as you try to put a stop to hazing, it is always going to be around somewhere. Hopefully, they will be able to figure out something to stop it because it is sad and unfortunate that people have to lose their lives this way.

Q.U.B.E

I guess if you are the type of person who enjoys playing with blocks and solving puzzles then this game is for you. I think that I am not much of the type who likes to play with cubes but then again, it is games like these that get you addicted to them. This happens to me all the time. I start playing a game and then a couple hours later and two meals missed, I am still playing the game. For this game, it would get people addicted because you have to figure it out as you go and then once you complete a level you get so excited that you want to keep going. For games like these I find myself getting very frustrated at times. When I try a level over and over again and fail each time, it makes me absolutely crazy. For some reason, even when I get to this point of frustration, I still can’t stop playing the game. Q.U.B.E seems quite interesting. I do like completing puzzles every once in a while. Will I ever play Q.U.B.E? I don’t really have any intention to. I am more of a word search puzzle person than a Rubik’s cube person and that is what this game is more like. I am a little confused as to what the objective of this game is, but I guess it is one of those things that you just play it and figure it out as you go.

Watching the Hobbit Trailer

For reading number 3, I was completely confused about the article. I have never read any of the books or watched any of the movies that they are talking about. So as I was reading through the article, I really did not have a clue as to what was going on. The title of the article is ‘Why the Hobbit Trailer Creeps Me Out”, so I watched the trailer. Having never watched the movie before, based on the title, I was expecting the trailer to be really creepy. However, after I read the article, I realized why Erick found it creepy. He was creeped out because they changed the characters personalities. I kind of agree with him when it comes to this because I don’t like when I watch a movie after I read a book and it is completely different. I think that if you are going to make a movie after a book, it should be the same thing. People choose to watch a movie after a book because they enjoyed reading it and now they want to see a visual of what they just read. People don’t want to watch a movie that is different from what they just read. That is just plain out confusing and unnecessary. If this one guy feels so strongly about it and practically begged the people in charge to re-shoot if they changed more characters, then I am sure a lot of people must feel the same way as well.

Visual Argument

The first image is a picture from The Great Flood of 1937 called "At The Time Of The Louisville Flood."  The image says "There is no way like the American way." Next to that caption is what looks like a white American family with a dog, all in a car. It also says "Worlds Highest Standard of Living". I think that this image is representing how different the lifestyles were between the whites and the blacks. The white Americans were able to get in a car and happily drive away. On the bottom is a line of what looks like African Americans all holding baskets. They had it all different. They werent able to just leave. They had to stay and stick it out the hard way.

The second image was of Milvertha Hendricks. This is an image of a woman waiting outside, wrapped in an American Flag blanket after Hurricane Katrina. Milvertha is an 84 year old lady. She appears to be very tired and cold. I think this image means that she has faith in America and for help to come to New Orleans. Also, there is more than one person with the American flag wrapped around them. Maybe the American flag blankets were being handed out as a sign that help is coming. Maybe Milvertha and the others sitting around her, their homes got destroyed. Maybe that blanket is all they have left to provide warmth for them.

Religion in Harry Potter?

The question is, does the Harry Potter novels promote religion or undermine it?

Let me start off by saying that I have never read a Harry Potter novel. For some reason it just doesn't spark my interest so I never felt the need or desire to watch or read. I may have a different view on the passage that we read from Ari Armstrong, due to the fact that I never actually read the J.K. Rowling novels.
            After reading the passage I have personally come to the conclusion that I don't think the novels have any religious meaning. It just seems to me like the writer wanted to come up with a storyline that would interest people. People like magic, they like heroism, and fighting for what's theirs, and that is exactly what the novels are about. Yeah, there may be some parts based on the passage that are similar to events that happened in Christianity, but I don't think this was done to have a religious meaning. I believe the purpose of this was simply to entertain the reader. Then again, this is my intake on it and I don't have much background knowledge about the stories. Someone who read all the novels may have a different opinion than the one that I have.