New Series of Posts: What I hate about You (and by you I mean Facebook)

I have decided to invoke my first amendment right to bitch, and bitch I shall.  As you may or may not know Facebook keeps changing its formats, adding stuff that is useless and taking away stuff that is  priceless.  However not all is bad in the land of Facebook, for there is still the game sections such as attack and scramble, which I have thoroughly enjoyed.  The only downside to the stuff that they do have on there is once you like a certain application they reel you in into buying the “platinum” memberships, which is nice if you have money to waste, however since I am a college student, anything of monetary nature is hard to come by these days.

Facebook has also brought about the mentality of its users that if its not on there its not true.  For example if you are in a relationship with someone on Facebook people will assume it is true in real life.  It’s the same way with friends on there as well.  “If you’re not my friend on facebook then you’re not my friend in real life”, which most people should know is a load of bull, because of the 200 + friends we have on there we only talk to about 30-50 percent, 20-30 percent we see in our daily lives, and about 5 percent and less we only really know.  (Mind you this is all speculation on my part and with my experiences and results may vary).

Lastly (for now) if Facebook was intended for college students, then why are high schoolers faking their age to get on?  Also on that note, why is it old folks deem it necessary to do the same (without tampering with the age part), and then proceed to friend their kids.  Let me say this to those of you who are parents who have done this or are planning to do this:  DON”T FRIEND YOUR OWN KIDS!!!! I say this because your kids are at a stage in their life where they need Independence from you.  Let them have their privacy, cause the last thing they need is to have a picture of them drinking a beer and a comment from you saying that they are grounded or something like that.  However if they friend you it’s a totally different story.  It shows that they trust you enough to let you in on their lives on-line, so congratulations your kids are extremely sheltered or depraved or something to that extent.  I guess it would be kind of ironic if the parent invited the kid onto facebook. Well anyways…

More complaining to come.

Who’s Culture is it, Anyways? Post

I couldn’t hep but get the feeling, when I first read the title of this article, that Gates was alluding to something I had seen on TV some time in my short-lived lifespan thus far.  I just remembered; there used to be a show called “Who’s Line is it Anyways?” something about where they make things up and the points don’t matter.  However in this case i guess it’s slightly different, but on the other hand if this were a TV show i guess the slogan would be “It’s okay, be racist.  We won’t sue … yet”.  However that is hardly the point that I am going to make. 

As for the article I thought it was good.  It was short sweet and to the point.  The only problem is that I couldn’t find that point so for now in lue of the fact that this blog is due in about twenty minutes I will ramble on a tad bit longer.  I did however like the fact that Gates included Herman Melville.

My culture mostly white.  I’m 50% Irish, 25% German, 6.25% Cherokee Indian, and 18.75% is still a mystery to me.  I guess that you could say that that 18.75% is the equivalent of mystery meat in a high school cafeteria.  You already know that it’s some kind of meat and your pretty sure that it’s nothing that you have ever heard of, who knows maybe its oxtail (For those of you who get that joke I congratulate you).  Even though I am made up of all those ethnic backgrounds doesn’t mean I let that define my culture.  Technically I’m 75% drunk off of Whiskey and German Beer, but I’m not.  People in these times try to get away with mooching off of their culture.  For example if your 25% African American, 25% Hispanic, 25% American Indian, and 25% Mystery Meet, then chances are you just got a huge deduction off of your tuition.  Not to sound racist, but I’m waiting for the white middle class scholarship.

I guess the main point that I’m trying to convey is that you have your culture and thats all well and good, but you shouldn’t use it to your advantage to try and get ahead of people in life, because it’s stupid.  For example scholarships should be handed out to those who are either smart and deserve it or are poor and need the support to make it through.  Of course I wouldn’t be saying this my self if I did get a scholarship off of my ethnic background, because in the end it’s money and money is good. 

Mute in an English – Only World Post

In this essay the Author, Lee, basically tells the the story of her mother who only speaks a little English and mostly Korean.  By the end of the article her mother had been through a troublesome day from the Korean word for oxtail, and why someone would want to eat oxtail is beyond me, to getting honked at by other motorists, which can be kind of annoying at any rate.  In some ways I feel sympathy towards Lee’s mom, yet on the other hand I don’t and for good reason.

I sympathize for the main reason that no one should go through that kind of humiliation and embarrassment.  In one way or another we all have embarrassed ourselves to the point where we just want to go and cry off in the distance, which is understandable.  In that same respect people should be understanding in that circumstance in order to make the other person feel at home.

On the other hand, she needs to learn English, especially in these times.  English is essential in getting by in America, because in order for people to understand you, you need to be on the same frequency.  Also America that won’t give a damn about where you’re from half the time, or how well you’ll integrate into society.

Finally the last thing about this article that I am going to point out is that she tells us that her mom dies of cancer.  In my personally opinion she didn’t need to put that, because it’s an attention grabber for the wrong cause.  She writes an essay about how bad it is getting by in America with out knowing any or little English, then she caps it off with, “oh by the way she died of cancer”.  I guess she put that tidbit of information in there was mainly to aspire more sympathy, and in my book that is a low blow to the reader’s conscience.

Bad Luck: Why Americans Exaggerate the Terrorist Threat Post

This made me smile a bit, because it was short, simple, to the point, and short.  Rosen writes in his essay about how the terrorist threat is exaggerated in America, and that there is less chance of someone getting killed by an attack than there is by getting into a car accident.  Now I agree with the fact that the statistics are in favor you getting killed some other way, however why should we even bother with the statistics?

On one hand having the statistics could bring about a better feeling about homeland security.  If the odds of getting killed in a terrorist attack are slim to none, then the person reading the article should sigh in relief, because their chances of living just increased, however that doesn’t excuse them from ever meeting their maker eventually.  We all die, it’s just the way it goes.

On the other had the statistics on death can really affect someone into living a sheltered life and being all anti-social, which also sucks.  So in that case just live life to the fullest and if something happens just go with the flow, or something like that.  They say that cancer is the top killer in America.  If it happens that someone gets terminal cancer and they have the choice of living out the rest of their life and not doing anything about the cancer, verses staying in a hospital and having kimo done to you with the chance of prolonging your life, well then I would choose to live it out my own way.

I would do that for a few reasons, and that is simply  because staying in a Hospital cost mucho mula, and all you do is eat, sleep, and go through therapy, and its not fun.  However if I had a set amount of time left then I’d create a list of what I wanted to do before I kicked it.  It’s kind of like that movie “A Walk to Remember”.  The girl only had a little bit of time left, but she got to do what she wanted to do before her time ran out, she lived her life to the fullest, and so should everyone else.  If you want to learn an instrument, take lessons, if you want to play video games, buy a counsel or do whatever makes you happy.  The key thing is that statistics keep people in fear for their life, if there were no stats then people would care less about death and focus on living rather than preserving life.

AIDS in Africa Post

Well…apparently there are AIDS in Africa, as well as other places.  Katz basically talked on the subject of AIDS in and out of Africa and the theories on how it’s spreading and how it got to Africa and other places as well.  Katz introduces some aspects contributing and associated with AIDS, the Neo-Liberal Approach, A Racist Theory, Gender Diversions, a Disease of Poverty, and Trillions Rather Than Millions. 

The Neo-Liberal Approach is the ideas and theories on how AIDS has spread over the past thirty years.  In mostly touches and emphasizes on the “gay plague”.  It also emphasizes on how AIDS is transmitted such as sex, sharing spit, sex, sharing drug/needles, oh and Sex!!!  Did I mention sex?  The Racist Theory on AIDS is based in the region of the Caribbean such as Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Trinidad, and others.  It was originally suspected that voodoo was the cause of AIDS, but then they found out that it was more likely to be associated with the  “gay plague”.

The Gender Diversions in relation to AIDS is all inclusive, because it sounds as if anyone can be on that list.  However at the top of that list are Africans, more especially women, and women in Europe.  It is most prevalent in women in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa.  AIDS is also referred to as a disease of poverty mostly due to the correlation between poverty and AIDS.  In layman’s terms the poorer the area the more chance of AIDS, and this is mostly attributed to desperate women who cannot get a job, ergo they sell their body.  The “Trillions Rather Than Millions” section is in refference to the money made availible to help, aid, and assist those who have AIDS and those who are fighting to find a cure.

To tell the truth in an essay about AIDS I read what I pretty much expected, and that was AIDS is still around.  Of course I was a little disipointed in this essay because they didn’t have the theory on how AIDS may have began with the guy having sex with a monkey.  Now to me that right there is pretty f***** up, but it may be the truth. 

Everybody Has AIDS! AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8rjUepyUzs

 

Life on the Global Assembly Line Post

While reading this essay something occurred to me, I never new the Bee Gee’smade it to underdeveloped Asia.  However that’s beyond the point.  A few quick comments about the piece itself.  For starters I agree with what Ehrenreich and Fuentes are trying to make, however one little flaw in their writing is that we’re not in the cold war any more, and there are no longer three worlds.  It is just Developed and underdeveloped, however seeing as there is no date that I can locate as to when this text was written it may be fine in saying third world instead of underdeveloped.

Another little crick in my neck is about one of the authors, Barbara Ehrenreich.  I do hate to ramble, but in this case of filling the propper requirements of this blog adding up to one page in word, however I must ramble then.  While entering the 11th grade I had the misfortune of being forced to read “Nickled and Dimed to Death” along with”Grapes of Wrath”, both of which are the two most boring and communistic books I have ever read in my life.  In “Nickled and Dimed” Ehrenreich takes on a minimum wage job in America and tries to see if it’s possible to live on minimum wage.  Suffice to say it probably is not, however when she was cleaning in a hotel she did not have to go into detail about picking pubic hair out of the drain.  It was stuff like that, that really ticked me off.  That and she complained to damn much, and if this were a fictitious world where no harassment lawsuits existed I’d probably just pull a “Stewie Griffin” go to her house and just bitch-slap her for writing that book and telling America what we already knew.  There I’m done now.

Women in underdeveloped Asia are being treated badly in factories.  Thank you Captain Obvious.  What we have here are countries using other countries to manipulate capitol in their favor, and in this case the capitol comes from the product, which was produced by the women under harsh treatment.  I for one am all for capitalistic thought and ideas, however I’m not for the cruel and unethical treatment of employees.  Whew… If I was the CEO of Nike I wouldn’t have anything to worry about, because those people in Korea are not my employees, they are independentcontractors, or at least the factory owners are, and since the factory is in an area of the world where no one gives a damn about worker treatment, with the exception of the workers, they  therefore get away with it.  And being the CEO of Nike I’m fortunate enough to write off the independent contractor in Asia and not have any effects added on to my taxes.

On a side note “He who owns the capitol owns the world.”

In 1862 the USA was plunged into Civil War for various reasons, and surprisingly the fair and ethical treatment and eventual emancipation of slaves was not one of those reasons until a few years later when Abe Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  Now the women in Asia have a few choices, assuming they want to change their current hellish situation. They fight, riot, protest, or wait for someone to emancipate them.  OK, who’s it gonna be?

Questions for the Speaker from Iraq

1.  What is the predominant religion in Iraq?

2.  Have there been any disputes over religion in Iraq in the past 10 years? 25? 50?

3.  What is the most popular type of music in Iraq?

4.  Is there a specific genre of music that originates form Iraq?

Last class we had a speaker from Iraq.  Given the stereotypes all the hoo-plah on TV and other sources I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this speaker.  Ever since Iraq’s liberation from a dictatorship, they’ve aquired many rights and freedoms. 

Bagdad is where the speaker was from.  The city is still having trouble against the threat against their lives, because it is not safe to walk where ever one pleases to walk.

Questions for the Speaker from Jordan and Response of Last Class

1.  What is the predominant religion in Jordan?

2.  Have there been any disputes over religion in Jordan in the past 10 years? 25? 50?

3.  What is the most popular type of music in Jordan?

4.  Is there a specific genre of music that originates form Jordan?

In regards to the speaker last class, I must apologize due to my 24 hour bug that I was enduring during the whole day.  However somethings that I did manage to catch while I was awake during class was that head cloth was optional for women in Jordan.  Along with that it surprised me to hear about the multitude of freedom of women in Jordan as well.

Unfortunately that was all I could remember from last class.

Crap I consider Important for Presidential Candidates

Presidential Qualities:

1. Knowledgeable of situations in and outside of the country

2. Wealthy enough to back themselves up while in office

3. Not Hillary Clinton

Presidential Issues:

1. Foreign Affairs (Including war in Iraq/ War on Terrorism)

2. Alternate Fuel Sources

3. Taxes (Keep Goin’ down)

4. Social Security (Either that or become great friends with mutual funds and the stock market)

Hillary Clinton:

As one of my qualities for a decent presidential candidate I said that I did not want Hillary Clinton as President and so there it is.   I will however anylize Obama and McCain.

Barack Obama:

on foriegn affairs Obama wants to end the war in Iraq, take the leader of Iraq and all the other surrounding countries and basically have a “Pow wow” and try to make everyone get along and encourage deplomacy.  It’s great in theory, but here’s the thing, it might work if they are kintergardeners and if they still liked barney and had that inferal “I love you” (Please kill me now) theme song stuck in there head, but they’re not.  What they are are leaders of countries, and even if they do decide to come to this meeting they’re going to have a good amount of they’re millitary parked outside witht the exception of Obama, becaues oh that’s right they’re not there he pulled them out, duh!  I don’t maybe he’ll bring some people from Blackwater to back him up if he can afford it.

John McCain:

On the war in Iraq MacCain wants to do the same thing as Obama with one subtle difference, keep the millitary, and with good reason.  I mean what does it mean to be a GI Joe? big muscles and big missles right? Rioght.

More to Come

Student Apathy Post

In regards to student apathy, it apparently means not to give a damn, and with that I could probably just stop here, but I won’t because my “give-a-damn” is not busted.  The question I ask my self is “do I really care?”  Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t.  With student apathy all I will really do is just analyze it to a certain degree and then just leave it alone like a dirty, smelly, disgusting, flea ridden hobo.  But anyways I guess I’m like that but that’s neither here not there. 

            In the article there was concern of students not being active in programs and groups.  My opinion on this is just to leave them be.  In a way college is for every one.  Some people came here to party and have sex, some came here to get away from their parents and most came here to learn, and it’s a persons decision whether or not they wish to be active in their community, and irregardless of the fact people at this point in time should not be forced into participation unless they really want to.

            Another bit of analysis in regards to people playing videos as a proclaimed scapegoat for secluding themselves from others.  This is not true for example Halo 1-3, Guitar Hero 1-3, and Super Smash Bros. just to name a few games that tend to draw crowds and participation.  Of course there are those people when they get a new video game, lock themselves in their dorm for a day and a halve and beat the game.  However after that small amount of time the door opens and they are as social as ever.

            In conclusion people have the right to do what ever the hell they want and the public really shouldn’t care what some one is or is not doing hands down, end of descusion, court adjourned.