Author Archives: oa147719

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlbN6EWUJNk

Many Americans have the thought in their head that Muslims are terrorists, unfair and oppressive to their wives, are not modern or universal, and are also violent.  These characteristics have been labeled upon every Muslim individual. Unless you are Muslim, you wont see how difficult it can be. Every time a Muslim goes to the airport, he or she will be extensively searched, abused and harassed, just because of his or her religion. The labeling theory had caused many difficulties within the Muslim communities, during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  Heartbroken Americans along with the media caused confusion and many hard times for Muslims. Women, in the middle of the streets in America, during this time were harassed and abused just because they wore a headscarf. Just because one group of Muslim extremists creates destruction to a number of different communities, doesn’t mean that every Muslim in the world is the same way. A Christian psychopath walks in to a movie theatre, shooting up the place, and it’s considered massive homicides. Let alone, if that same man grew his beard and labeled himself as a Muslim, the media would tear up the world causing an influx of frustration within the American society, publishing it as terrorism. A radical mind is the same throughout; religious beliefs are left out of it. As it is shown in the Quran, Islam is peace in different forms. In addition, it was against Islam to backbite, let alone terrorize people. In the most recent news story, a man went into a Sikh temple thinking that this was a mosque and shot and killed many people. A common misconception is that in a Muslim culture men often wear turbans, but in fact this is actually a part of the Sikh religion and also some parts of Afghanistan, which are Muslim.

watch?v=zj69TGZ7QjI

More than 37 million people in America have fallen below the poverty line. Based on the Federal Government, a family, of two adults and two children, earning less than $21,027 a year is considered below the poverty line. Being poor in America has extended to many people, which cannot do anything about it. Jobs are not so easy to come by in this economy. How is a person supposed to find a job where there are too many overqualified individuals, that were laid off from their jobs, don’t mind taking a pay cut and would do anything to at least have a job. With the poverty line gaining more and more people, the middle class has been dramatically shrinking and no one can do anything about it. Many people are rushing towards the last resort of employment, which is the military, but even the Department of Defense is getting its budget cut. Often times, we don’t realize how bad it has become, because we go to our jobs daily, drive our cars normally and really don’t see what’s happening in peoples’ lives unless it’s your own loved ones on the line. How is a family of four supposed to live off of $21,027? What will they choose not to buy, the shoes, kids’ birthdays, their education or their entertainment? How do you tell a child that they won’t be having a birthday party, nonetheless a gift, because they can’t afford it? If a family makes a single dollar above $21,027, they wont be able to qualify for government-funded health insurance. How is that fair to those families that desperately need health insurance, because they can’t afford going to the hospital every time they get sick.  This dollar amount that the federal government has set should be increased, due to the fact that no family can afford living with the basic necessities that will keep them alive and well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35cOqZI067E&feature=related

Francis Galton had once said that “Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world; Nurture is every influence that affects him after his birth.” The nature vs. nurture debate is over whether children develop their physiological attributes based on genetics, which is “Nature” or how they were raised, also known as “nurture”. This argument can be traced back a few millenniums, or at least as far back as someone can wonder. In 350 B.C., philosophers asked the same question on human behavior. Plato and Aristotle were both philosophers with two different views on the issue. Plato believed that knowledge and behavior were due to innate factors, but environmental factors still played a role in the equation. Aristotle believed differently though. He believed in the thought of “ tabula rasa,” which means blank state. This thought concluded that everyone is born mindless; you gain your own unique knowledge and behavior from your experiences. Things such as personality, intelligence, sexuality, phobias, shyness, gender identification, attitude and habits are all created new. Many children around the world are abused and abandoned by their parents and are grown up with little or no human interaction, sometimes along with animals. These children are called feral children. A widely known case of this was in the late 1970’s with a girl named Genie. Until she was thirteen years old, she lived in complete isolation. She had never learned to speak and was the size of a six year old, instead of the size of a teenager. When she recovered from her abusive father, she was believed to be autistic, because of her severe disability with social interaction, but it was the fact that she was isolated and abused her whole life that caused her to act this way.  His helps the nurture debate, because it proves that due to the fact that there was no interaction with humans, this child did not know any social characteristics. There are many cases around the world where there are children that grow up with animals and when they are found they mimic everything that the animals do. Francis Dalton had done many studies, which stated that many identical twins stay the same throughout their whole lives, but not only in appearance but also ailments, personalities, and interests. One pair of twins he studied suffered a severe toothache in the same tooth, in the same age. One pair of obviously similar twins who were separated at birth but reunited in 1979, both smoked and shared several interests along with dislikes. They both also had wives named Betty, ex-wives named Linda, had dogs named toy and also named their first-born child James Allen. This debate over nature vs. nurture will always have cases and thoughts that will help both sides of this argument, but it is very hard to exactly tell which one is right and which one is wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwkL0tyeee4

Many nationwide surveys have stated that four out of every five college students on campuses around America are indulging themselves into consumption of alcohol. Heavy consumption of periodical drinking is occurring with half of these, four out of five, students. Many schools throughout the country have drinking clubs within the campus, which are like fraternities and/or sororities. All they do is get together and drink until they cannot consume any more alcohol. Many schools, such as Princeton, have made this a ritual, for hundreds of years. There is a very high influence into this gargantuan culture of drinking. So much, that it forms this immaculate social norm to be a part of this club; to drink until you cannot anymore. There are many short term and long term consequences in alcohol bingeing, including injuries, unsafe sex, alcohol abuse, arrests and violence and much more. More than 1400 deaths, 500,000 injuries, and 70,000 rapes and sexual assaults are reported annually. There have been surveys conducted in which ninety-percent of students believe that they, personally, are not comfortable with the excessive binge drinking, that occurs throughout the weekends.  When they were asked what the other students thought, they answered that everyone loved it and was happy to pursue it. This cannot be possible, where almost everyone says that they are uncomfortable with it, but when asked how others would find it to be, everyone else enjoyed it. There is definitely a misperception of the actual social norm here. Misconception of this can also be found in very close friends. Slowly and slowly people’s beliefs follow in the path of what they thought at first was uncomfortable, but now is a social norm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK5p8_llLhk

As a student, one of the most important things is time management. At many universities all around the country, students have to deal with many problems but the most important one is how to manage your social life and academics. This is a very big role conflict. The reason we go to college in the first place is to get an education, to increase your awareness, discover what you are passionate about, to network with different people, and lastly to challenge your self. Alcohol is known to create many obstacles negatively affecting your academics and overall grade point average. Alcohol changes the mental reasoning of a person. Going to class hangover because of excess drinking causes lack of participation and slowing of physical and psychological reactions.  After a long day of classes, it is hard enough to just sit and study but trying to do so while mentally impaired by alcohol or other drugs is twice as bad. Many students try their best at managing their time but later on regret their decisions when it is time for a test or an overdue assignment. This role conflict makes up a majority of many students lives whether it is due to alcohol, drugs, or excessive participation in unnecessary hobbies or sports. Making this a habit in college can lead to more problems in the future. College exemplifies a major role conflict, both during and after your college experience, the pressure on everyone to be a social being. But the cost and opportunity of academic and extra-curricular also creates conflict for students to chose one or the other, or balance the strains of both.