Author: Matt W

“But by the time the eulogies are being written, it’s often too late, and all that’s left is contradicting emotions we have as we sort through the pieces.” – Amira Rose Davis

After reading this article this quote accurately describes my feelings towards Kobe Bryant. Although, he was a renowned athlete with widespread influence in not only the sport of basketball but also within society, he has an alleged devious past that labels him as a rapist and he even takes accountability for these actions. This proves that not all individuals with an incredible legacy are necessarily innocent people and in this case a person now referred to as a legend within the basketball community  is also a man that has committed a great sin in modern society. However, through using the context of the quote, Kobe Bryant is not the man portrayed in the article as seen through his dedication towards his children, community, and the sport, he is a changed person from 2003 and by sorting through these pieces that made up his life, he has taken accountability for what he has done and has spent his years after trying to become a better person in order to change himself from being a devious person and being portrayed as one in popular culture.

To begin with I’d like to mention how Coates does infact adequately make his case through bringing up the group responsible, or in this case the nation of that is America. Then he backs up his argument from where it began with slavery all the way up until redlining and segregation and how that was 250 years of history that black people faced harsh and violent mistreatment.

Can something be not your fault, but still your responsibility? I don’t believe that a certain individual can be held accountable for something someone before them committed; however, they can do their best to uphold their responsibility to do what’s right in society as a true citizen. Furthermore, to answer this in the context of Coates’ argument, the problem lies within the government because as long as cops can continue to stay misinformed and act irrational with a system that creates unfair equity amongst races, those reparations the black community deserves will never be met. To this day we can see how the government disregards the mistreatment of black individuals and until that changes I don’t think the nation is doing it’s responsibility to settle the score. Just take a look at Germany and all the reparations they had to pay from the world wars, there were people born long after the war that had to help pay for that debt, so I believe the government can afford to provide equity to the black community and all races in America.

Coates presents his case in a very straightforward manner. He talks about the oppression and discrimination the black community faced during slavery then proceeds to move forward in history towards segregation. He then begins to discuss how the color of a person skins devalues property which pushes the message forward for reparations for the black community. Furthermore, he conveys the message that they were portrayed as lower class citizens compared to white people and this set financial barriers on what a black person could achieve during that period. Then he describes the awful involvement of white people demonstrating severe violence towards black ownership of a property. Moreover, Coates mentions the lack of opportunity black individuals faced and how redlining really destroyed potential investments wherever black people lived. This is a true insight into how much of a struggle the black community faced and why he feels it is necessary to use this history to ensure that America will progress from this moment and will strive to be better.

Topic: Development of mental health awareness alongside modern psychology

Question: How has modern psychology influenced the perception of mental health and why has the awareness created such an immense discussion?

Researching Next:

• How has the development been so far between the two
• What classifies different sections of mental health
• What role does psychology play in mental health
• How can we use our understanding of modern psychology to further understand mental health and bring more awareness

I’d like to go into detail on the specifics of mental health and how it relates to modern psychology as well as how it has developed over the course of time through modern medicine. I also felt like researching about this topic as I feel it has become more common in today’s society especially amongst younger people and I’d like to find out why. Furthermore, I feel like a have a good direction in approaching my research, but I’m still in the process to compose a better question to really be concise about what I’m trying to convey.

As Michelle Alexander puts it “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” Throughout every new generation in America there are new tactics being developed to achieve the same goals shared by predecessors of the past such as the folks that were alive during the Jim Crow Laws. In today’s day and age the modern version of this is the criminal justice system, where if your name is in the papers within the system you basically have your rights stripped just as the black folks did during their lives through Jim Crow into what’s considered a “second-class citizenship.” A system that creates more harm than fixes what has been done is a system that I would consider a failure just as the prison system has been. All it does is surround you with people who committed all types of felonious acts where you are then labeled by your crime and consequently face the treatment of other whether it be good or bad. All this creates is a hub of criminal information where an inmate now has a larger grasp on how to commit and get away with crimes so when they get released and are legally denied the ability to obtain employment, housing, and public benefits they resort back to the life that once allowed for them to obtain their basic needs which is a crime filled life. I believe the only way to reform this situation is to give incarcerated people a purpose in life when they’re locked up so when they get out they can pursue a path that will do justice within their communities through re-integrating them into society. For example, if the majority of Americans believe the appropriate way to treat another human that is currently addicted to crack is to lock that person up, then when they get released on parole / probation they’re going to want to find every opportunity possible to get another fix and ultimately repeat the same mistakes that landed them in an institution in the first place as they weren’t ready to quit or give up their past lives. This is why the criminal justice system needs reformation, without instilling purpose in criminals and giving them the tools to integrate back into society they are just going to continue making the same choices they did before and continue to follow the path to “second-class citizenship” just like the experience of those during the time of the Jim Crow Laws.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/shutter-island-15-1920058.html

“Instead he’s gone and made one of the most hysterical films of his career, a B-movie schlocker that hurries through dungeons and dark chambers like some hapless innocent in a Gothic novel.” – Anthony Quinn

I believe this critique of the film does it no justice whatsoever. The film goes into such depth about mental health and the decline of one’s perception of true reality. All the dungeons and dark chambers are representative of all the issues plaguing our main character on his quest to sanity. This film isn’t hysterical at all and it makes you question the plot as much as the characters within it. It most definitely isn’t a B-movie as there is so much in depth connections made and it’s truly a masterpiece in how it portrays the clever doctors in constructing a fictional realm where our main character faces his insanity.

“The field of racial positions has now been rearticulated in cultural terms: rather than asserting the intrinsic racial superiority of certain groups over others, opinionmakers now claim that certain group cultures are more conducive to success than others.”

This quote made me truly realize how over the course of history, especially in the United States, the beliefs of certain people are still fundamentally the same. Our society has become more progressive, and as we continue to progress into a better society the people must unify against the beliefs of social inequality. Racism is this concept that further divides humanity into a comparison war that ultimately leads to an individuals conclusion of what they believe is a race that is better equipped for success. However, if we could just put aside the clever wording that influences people’s beliefs about other races, and just look at one another as human to human in order to better understand their lives we could develop a more sympathetic relationship between races. This ultimately can unite humanity instead of us having the discussion of whether or not which race is more conducive to success which just consequently ends up dividing humanity. Racism hasn’t changed, the clever wording used to influence values of division have, and are now creating chaos across the globe. It’s time for us as humans to reflect upon history to finally make a change and put an end to cultural division.

Start – Video begins with him and his inner darkness sitting behind him from an angle.

17 seconds – Begins to mention the girl he really likes.

23 seconds – Video shows a white pure flower.

33 seconds – Video presents us with a white marble statue of two lovers.

31 -39 seconds – He slides a diss at Drake with a couple lines about hiding a child because of the controversial reveal of his child being brought up by Pusha T.

41 seconds – Mentions the “fire,” the time between breaking up with his lover and their reconnection. It’s also illustrated in the video with a ring of fire.

51 seconds – Talks about how he can’t lose her again

1:02 – The inner darkness begins to take over and begins to corrupt the lovers as illustrated by the black paint beginning to spew out the mouth of the man on the lover statue.

1:04 – Inner darkness rubs hands together as if something was accomplished successfully.

1:09 – Mentions how he felt lonely and now has company again, and this time it’s for good.

1:21 – Begins to talk about his lover’s life during the period of their breakup and how she also had other “personal” relationships with people while he did.

1:45 – Stresses the importance again of not wanting to lose his lover.

1:50 – Black paint begins to cover a corrupt the pure white flower from the beginning of the video.

2:01 – The white marble statue of the two lovers are now completely covered in black paint.

2:33 – The lady kissing the skull signifying love to death.

2:51 – Ring of fire has been reduced to tiny flames

3:00 – The video shows us two skeletons covered in black paint lying next to one another, signifying them dying together after being together for life.

3:10 – Video ends with him standing side by side to his inner darkness.

The genre of music this is considered to be is R&B or Popular music. With that being said, the majority of people that listen to these genres are young people and with the message of the video being about love, relationships, and dating it leads me to conclude that this video is catered towards a younger audience that hasn’t married yet. The context surrounding this song / video is incredible. First I’d like to start off with how Gesaffelstein is the producer, and also the inner darkness standing next to The Weeknd throughout the whole video. Then I’d like to proceed with how the song is about the tumultuous relationship that Bella Hadid and The Weeknd had; however, it can also be perceived as a diss track towards Drake. To support this we first have to understand that Drake had hidden a child away from the world and it was brought up by Pusha T during their rap feud. The fact that Drake had the audacity to hide it could indicate that he was either protecting his child from all the publicity, or that he was ashamed about having a child with an adult film actress, that part is up to speculation. Moving forward, The Weeknd throughout the song is basically a love song to Bella about their relationship and how he wants to be with her forever as depicted by the lyrics and video. The message of the video is to her to reassure his compassion for her as well as illustrate the complexity of their relationship through the white purity becoming covered in darkness, and how it changed their relationship completely.