Author Archives: antonino.fioretto

Posts: 5 (archived below)
Comments: 2

Broken Windows Theory

Posted on August 20, 2011 by antonino.fioretto

I came across a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj9WsGbaNAY  explaining the broken windows theory and I just wanted to give my opinion on it. I have to agree to an extent that when your walking in a neighborhood that has been vandalized and corrupt, we do tend to join in with them and maybe throw garbage on the floor instead of in a trash can as we normally would. There is one difference though. I think the broken window theory applies only to young children and teenagers.

Being an adult, I cant imagine that an adult would change the way in which they were raised and are going to quickly adapt to acting like a criminal or not for the lonesome fact that crime is all around us or isnt present at all. Adults have a more conceptual mind and we have certain attributes and learned behavior that is instilled in us from childhood that carry on into our adulthood. I think children and teenagers adapt much more quickly to certain environments than an adult would. If an adult sees another adult get into a street fight, we would automatically call the cops and usually dont like to be involved. A child or teenager would add fuel to the fire and get excited seeing a fight. They would run to the scene and possibly join in even though they normally wouldnt do that.

Therefore, even though we try to change the environment of a bad neighborhood, I dont think criminals would care if the neighborhood was cleaned up and looked pleasant to walk through; its the way people think in their minds and a criminal will still act like a criminal if he or she wants to regardless of their surroundings.

Posted in Assignment 5 | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

Medication overload!!!

Posted on August 13, 2011 by antonino.fioretto

I have come across this very interesting article and it spoke about our generation being overpopulated with people taking medication for literally everything. I have to agree that we are a generation that can not deal with the simplest of things and situations. We tend to always want to find the easy way out. Looking for a bandaid or a quick fix to make everything okay. This is very scary to me because it has started with the adults and is progressing to children as young as a couple of months old.

People take medicine for depression, sleep disorders, and attention deficit disorder. Although there are people who truly do suffer immensely from these disorders and cant help it but take medication for it, but when the majority of the population thinks they have these disorders; thats where the problem starts. The article said that drug companies have pushed the selling of drugs through ads and commercials and have influenced people to believe they have some sort of disorder and thats how they sell their drugs.

My opinion on this topic is that we live in a country where we want to do everything and accomplish so much at one time that we will medicate ourselves just to get through the day. It has gotten so bad that we give medication to our hyper-active children to calm them down so that we dont have to deal with them while trying to accomplish our own personal tasks either at home or at work. Whatever happened to kids just being kids? Maybe these kids are over active because they seek attention from their parents. Instead of medicating these children and putting a medical label on them, why not try talking and spending time with them and find out the true problem. It might not be a disorder afterall.

My point in all of this is that we need to take time for ourselves and relax because Rome wasnt built in a day and we need to face that. For ourselves, our children, and future generations, we need to stop this over medication of society now because if we dont, we will become a country full of robots. We will keep taking medicine for every little thing we dont like about ourselves or cant deal with and we will be controlled by these pills and drugs. We will become a generation full of drug addicts.

Posted in Assignment 4 | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Stigmas and Unemployment?

Posted on August 6, 2011 by antonino.fioretto

I came across this article and it spoke about the relationship between stigmas associated with people who are unemployed. I found it very interesting that unemployment was a stigma. People who have recently been unemployed due to this downward economy are being put in a category and are unable to find jobs. They are faced with the unemployment stigma and employers are not hiring them. Even someone with 15 years experience in one company are being overlooked at because employers are labeling them as lazy and unable to get back into the job market.

I think this is ridiculous but I have had some friends and family who have lost their jobs due to getting laid off and are unable to get a job. One of my friends was working for a company for over 8 years and was unfortunately laid off; she cant even get a job at Starbucks because they feel she is overqualified. At first I didnt understand how that is a bad thing, having 8 years experience, but then I realized that they probably think she was only going to work at Starbucks for the time being until she gets a better corporate job. To an extent this makes sense but I think everyone knows the thousands of people who have been laid off and its not fair. These people who have lost their jobs have not done anything wrong yet they are being labeled and stigmatized as lazy or overqualified. To have lazy people and overqualified people in the same category is absurd. I think everyone needs to be given a chance to get back into the job market and this really should be illegal. I find it fascinating that it is illegal to discriminate against age, race, and sex but its not discrimination for not employing the unemployed.

Posted in Assignment 3 | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Iraqs Women Only Prison

Posted on July 29, 2011 by antonino.fioretto

I couldnt help but write about this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdEtYkUuzcY  I came across while searching for female crime videos. This video is about Iraq women in prison and I found it very interesting that none of these women knew why they got arrested. Many of them want to plead their cases but they are not given the opportunity to do so. They also keep saying that their husbands were accused of terrorism but they were the ones who got arrested. Also, what shocked me was that their children were also in the jail cells with them. They are raising these children in a jail. I fear that once these children are released with the mothers, how will they act in society? It will be a very difficult transition for them to get accustomed to everyday life when all they ever knew was life behind bars.

In class we were talking about how females who commit crimes are viewed as monsters because in the U.S. we view women as nurturing and gentle human beings as opposed to men who are viewed as rough and daring and are capable of a killing; in Iraq its the very opposite. With terrorism currently taking place around the world, it shocks me that these terrorists are running freely and commiting mass murders, but their wives are the ones being captured and put to serve in jail without a reason. Even as the women were pleading to Iraqs Vice President, it seemed to me that he couldnt care less about what the women wanted or had to say. The women were crying and wanted help, but he wanted them to be quiet and didnt want to hear it. If the Vice President of Iraq doesnt care, why would the men in their society care? I think its very messed up for these women to live that kind of life. It seems to me that in Iraq, the innocent are in jail and the monsters are running around town free.

Posted in Assignment 2 | Tagged , , | 106 Comments

Criminal Surveillance? Gone too far?

Posted on July 22, 2011 by antonino.fioretto

While searching for a video of interest to post, I came across this video(Click for video). In the video, it reports how the U.S. wants to pass a bill in which FBI agents dont need a motive or any evidence in investigating a crime. Everyone can be investigated without a reason. I think this is getting a little out of hand. The government already has too much control on individuals as it is. We have cameras installed in every possible area, street, and block in most of the country. I think this is categorizing every single person in the U.S. as a criminal. The message that U.S. citizens will get from this is that everyone is a criminal unless proven innocent. From what I understand from growing up, I thought that the correct motto was ” everyone is innocent unless proven guilty”. This is one of those moments in a nations history where the times are truly changing. I was born in 1985 and even though crimes did happen, I remember being able to leave the front door of my house open and unlocked and we werent so cautious about who our neighbors were and what they did. We werent so closely monitored and crimes were less than today. Nowadays, with the street cameras and surveillance, it seems that crime has risen. We basically are like animals stuck in a cage and the government is in control of us. I think people will get fed up with this new law and feel that since we are all categorized as criminals as a nation, why not act like a criminal anyway. I really hope that this bill does not pass because criminals are supposed to be the minority not the majority.

Posted in Assignment 1 | Tagged , | 18 Comments