Author Archives: nadya.mingo

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Pros vs Cons of Gay Marriage

Posted on August 19, 2011 by nadya.mingo

The issue of whether gay and lesbian people should be allowed to be legally marry has been debated frequently in recent times as noted in the movie we watched in class on 08/17/2011. One part of the society, the right-wingers who believe that homosexuality is morally wrong and on the other side are gay advocates who argue that their sexual preferences shouldn’t determine whether or not they can marry. To the latter group, gay and lesbian couples should have the same civil rights as heterosexual couples, including the right to legally marry.

Advocates for same-sex marriage purport that to deny a couple, no matter what their sexes, the right to marriage is to deny them a basic civil right. If a couple is unable to marry, they cannot access state and federal benefits that married couples can, such as health care, visitation rights when one partner is in the hospital, joint tax benefits and social security. But the fight for equal rights to marry isn’t just about access to benefits. Gay and lesbian couples are also looking for a way to legally proclaim their love for and commitment to each other in the same public way heterosexual couples have always enjoyed.

On the other side are those who state that, by their very nature, homosexual relationships are promiscuous, and so allowing same-sex marriages would increase the divorce rate. Further, opponents of gay marriage say that it would taint the long-standing tradition of the institution of marriage – that is, marriage between one man and one woman.

Supporters of gay marriage counter with the argument that allowing same-sex marriages to occur the government is simply strengthening the relationship between two people and providing them with some legal and economic security.

Another argument that is usually brought against the issue stems from the belief that the primary, if not only, purpose of marriage is procreation. Since procreation is obviously not possible between a same-sex couple, they argue, these couples should not be allowed to marry. They even take the argument further and say that a homosexual couple’s home is no place to raise children, even if the couple were to adopt.

On the flipside, proponents cite studies that have shown that there are no fundamental differences between children who are raised by homo- or heterosexual parents. (Note that many states allow homosexual couples to adopt children, but not to legally marry).

Posted in Assignment 5 | Tagged | 28 Comments

Immigrants Hope Their ‘American Dream’ Isn’t Fading

Posted on August 12, 2011 by nadya.mingo

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102866466

Watching the movie “Maid in America” has evoked so many emotions within me. As a young child my entire family was obsessed with coming to America along with many persons in my third world country. We grew up thinking that America is the land of realizing any dream and Americans have the perfect lives. According to the above article coming to America can be a culture shock and significant readjustment. I would not dispute that America is a land on great opportunities but has its limitations especially for undocumented immigrants.

Firstly, migration separates families which can leave so many emotional scars on family members. I am speaking from experience since my dad migrated to the USA since we were very young in search of a better way of living for our family and he was restricted from returning if he left due to immigration laws. We were not able to enjoy the presence of a dad in our home and when we were eventually granted this opportunity to be with him he died about four years after. This no doubt can leave emotional scars which may never be erased. Secondly, many persons I have known gave up comfortable lives in our country by migrating in the hope of realizing the American dream but instead have had to settle for uncomfortable lives but would not return to their country because of what they have given up mainly a job or some have sold their houses. Also many immigrants have to accept menial jobs in order to survive and many persons similar to the ones in the movie are being abused by their employers.

On the positive side some persons have been able to make their lives better by migrating to the USA and can assist their family in their homeland thus enabling them to live better lives.

I can say that I have no regrets of migrating to the USA since my life has improved significantly in comparison to life in my country.

 

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Media & Advertising

Posted on August 8, 2011 by nadya.mingo

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/business/media/promoting-products-using-social-media-advertising.html?ref=media

According to the above article MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have become the world’s leading social media for not only networking with friends and family but a prime way to promote businesses and product lines. These social networks have developed ways that browsers can click on links to see companies’ ads on their Facebook or either Twitter without having to actually leave their page also viewing commercial links from YouTube posted on their walls etc. They refer to this as a “cold-based ad platform”. Social Network is absolutely one of the best ways to advertise companies due to the increasing use of these networks by billions of people worldwide on an everyday basis. It has said that users spend at least 30 second consuming time on ads. In addition to that companies are looking into making ads more accessible to consumers on these social networks.

 Kontera is a media and technology company that is taking a very similar concept with its marketing in today’s technology. They have actually developed a way that advertisers pay for keywords to be hyperlinked within its blog or article. So basically when consumers click on the words of their choice it often takes users to the advertiser’s website. Kontera also uses a system called “In text ads”. For example Verizon does not promote their business over social networks like Facebook or Twitter accounts instead they advertise using their sponsor Will Power, the race car driver who competes in the Indy Racing League.

It thus shows that we are in a new era of marketing with the new online social media that is increasingly becoming popular, companies are capitalizing on this audience in order to gain a better advantage of increasing their market share.

 

 

Posted in Assignment 3 | Tagged | 1 Comment

History Of Consumerism In The United States

Posted on August 7, 2011 by nadya.mingo

http://www.articlepros.com/History/American/article-79412.html

After carefully reading this article, I have found the article to be relevant to the problems we are facing today; for example, the author in his introduction compared present day consumerism to that of the pilgrims whose lives were based on simplicity and frugality.  He sees consumerism as the main driving force in the United States today.

Another interesting fact noted in the article, is although some segments of the American society has had critical point of views of consumerism, it has prevailed throughout the years and has withstood the test of time. 

The author in addition sees consumerism as a concept that is being used by many as means of expressing their emotion. He noted that some consumers’ happiness is based upon their ability to purchase tangible things which they can consume and enjoy.  The study of the history of consumerism entails two approaches. Firstly, the rise of consumerism in the United States is seen from a general point of view of emphasizing some philosophical and ideological of consumerism in this modern society. Secondly, a brief history also examines a chronological point of view placing more emphasis on some relevant dates and consumer culture presently in the United States.

It is also noted in the article that consumerism has been growing steadily especially in the twentieth century and technological advances has enabled production to be increased. The author also credited American consumerism with the creation of public relationship.

The author in his view sees consumerism and globalization as two processes or forces that are interlinked and as such they are very important to our understanding of the role in which they play in the United States.

 

 

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The Curious Lives of Surrogates

Posted on August 6, 2011 by nadya.mingo

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/03/29/the-curious-lives-of-surrogates.html

There are mixed stories of both positive and negative outcomes in surrogate parenting which can either leave some people aroused with negative emotions while others may see it as okay.Some people view it as an act of love as in the case of the above article. The surrogate mother was fascinated with the idea of “growing a human beneath her heart” since from childhood and despite giving birth to a child of her, she still felt the need to have a human growing beneath her heart. Many proponents of surrogacy argue that it is a good way of assisting infertile women in satisfying a fundamental human longing of procreating and therefore should be permitted. Surrogacy fulfills both biological and emotional need of couples in which the wives are unable to conceive and often want to have children with the husbands’ biological inheritance.

There is also the financial aspect of surrogacy that lure many distressed working class women into becoming surrogates. As indicated in the article many military wives saw this as an opportunity to supplement their income and also other financially distressed women saw this as bridging the gap in their current financial situation. Some critics have argued that surrogacy is tantamount to selling babies which leads to the exploitation of financially distressed women. Critics have also argued that motherhood involves a special bonding between mother and child and question morally speaking which mother would carry a child for nine months then give the child away shortly after delivery. Many conservative Christians see this as tampering with the miracle of life.

Surrogacy is definitely a complicated topic which should focus on the wellbeing of the child.

 

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