Democracy 2.0

I decided to go see what exactly democracy means according to our government. I found this interesting piece of work. Above these bullet points was a statement implying that these are the goals of the United States and choosing democracy.

Promote democracy as a means to achieve security, stability, and prosperity for the entire world;

Assist newly formed democracies in implementing democratic principles;

Assist democracy advocates around the world to establish vibrant democracies in their own countries; and

Identify and denounce regimes that deny their citizens the right to choose their leaders in elections that are free, fair, and transparent.

Isn't that interesting? Tell me you chuckled, even if it was just a little. Tell me when in the past 4-5 years that even one of these bullet points have been input into our way of living. How many voting Americans, that practice their right to vote, feel secure and stable in our country? What about the amount of democratic principles have ever been implemented into our society? I will say that, a lot of countries have converted over to democracy, but in most of those countries, it truly is the people who vote the person that runs their country.

The last bullet is the best. Our voting rights should be fair right? How is allowing these politicians to bribe the country with promises they can't keep, deals they make but can't back up, all to win a vote, fair? I know nothing in life is fair, but our country could at least do a little bit of work to make sure the people running for President actually have a plan to implement the bargains they're making. If they're going to talk about doing it, why can't they discuss they're plan for it? Obama did a decent job of this throughout his campaign, there were just a lot of holes. 

Democracy? What democracy? We get to decide things? HA! Funny. One of my biggest issues with our current situation is not everyone gets to decide who is elected. Only those voices of people with some credit to their name make a difference, aka the electoral college. They receive all the ballots and then cast their vote. So depending on who is on the electoral college, and where exactly you're from, that's the way the votes are going to sway. They (hopefully) are listening to what each person running for President has to say, and basing their votes off of what they think will be best for the country. Problem...how many of these people speak the truth and actually stick to what they say they're going to do?

Personally, I think the democracy type is a great idea, but our country is falling apart. If democracy is what's making us be a split-nation, we need to figure out which President is going to try to bring us back together as one, rather than trying to convince people to go against each other.

On the Media: Debunking Migration Memes

Because I wrote on the Europe refugees earlier, I decided to continue my thoughts. :)

Physical:

Refugee issues going on in Europe. Involving the people of Isis trying to escape and the border police of England. Discussing the Memes (pictures with a short text on them) becoming more and more popular.

Psychological:

To the people out there making the memes about this topic...you disgust me. I cannot believe people would set aside time out of their day just to make a picture that is so sensitive and rude towards the refugees. It's definitely not just one person making all of these, because there are hundreds of memes being made about the Isis situation and it still blows my mind. Rather than spreading positive memes around about how to help these refugees, they've decided it'd be way more entertaining to make fun of them.

Not to mention, half of the pictures are fake, and the other half are completely taken the wrong way. Bob does a really good job at explaining this and saying that the people that are actually coming up with the memes obviously come across the image are 'confirming the person's worst fears/prejudices' OR there are people out there that are seriously looking out there just to spread their hate about the subject. Which is SO true.

In Kleinfeld's words, the people that are coming up with these are so cynical. The people who share them are no different.Unfortunately these memes also have another side to them. They've put fear into the people of England and are scaring them into thinking that there are imposter refugees that are coming over on the same boats as the refugees and could in fact invade the homes of the people trying to help.

Social:

Granted, the people of have probably never been a situation as they are in today, and the rest of the world is asking a lot of them, I totally understand. I know that if I was stuck in their shoes, I would be little sketched out bringing a random family into my household too! So if the people that aren't okay with the idea, they find it okay to make fun of the families and people in need? NOT AT ALL.

The best thing they can do at this point is put their best foot forward and go with their instincts. Seriously though, the border police can do the best they can the pick out the imposters, but the people who are taking refugees in, need not to be naive to the situation either.

Now reverse the roles. Imagine putting yourself in the refugees shoes? AH! I truly try to see things from other people's point of view, and I try to understand, but what exactly have the refugees done wrong? Ran from murders? Ran from the people trying to tear their families apart and forcing them into these crazy armies? How is that wrong? No they don't have a green card, but would you seriously turn away someone who just went through hell trying to get away from the Islamic army? I'm almost positive you could tell a difference between someone who has been in a horrible situation vs someone who still has loads of muscle on their bodies or seems well fed.

Culture:

England is trying to take on a big role right now. It's not all going to happen at once, and it might not even happen at all, BUT! If the people of England aren't going to agree to help the people of Isis and it's surrounding areas out, someone else, with more power, is probably going to start breaking some ties with them. As if helping save the lives of the innocent people wasn't enough, I'm not sure losing some allies will matter either.

Is there more that England can do to protect their own citizens? Yes of course! The border patrol is obviously doing what they can, but why don't they set up a refugee camp and slowly leak out the ones who have shown they are safe enough to be in a resident's home? It just takes a little time and effort from the natives of England and a little heart with some volunteer service.

Temporal Context:

So what's social media doing with it? All the wrong things, that's for damn sure. They're liking, commenting, sharing and spreading these crazy, fake meme's and it's driving me insane! I can't believe the nerve of some of these people! Props to the people who are just scrolling past them and not giving the post the time of day, but how are they going to stop them? Unfortunately, I don't think they can. :( They've shared them out of fear and have completely lost hope in their own country at that point and I just hope sharing that mean (and probably fake) post made them feel a bit more safe when they go to sleep at night.

It breaks my heart to know that if something like that ever happened to me, and I was in the refugee's shoes, I would feel hopeless. When you've lost hope, it's really hard to live much longer.

Learning 2.0

This is a topic I myself am worried for future with my children and what they are going to go through! You can never be over-educated, no matter what people say. Cheers to the older people that sit next to me in my college classes trying to better themselves!

After doing a bit of research, not to my surprise, the US ranks 22nd out of the 27 established countries for graduation rates. It used to be ranked one of the highest and each year we fall more and more short of that. But why? Why do we continue to see a consistent decline in our education system year after year after year? Is it the students fault? Teachers? Or parents?

Starting with the teachers, who go get their college degrees to teach these students, but then barely get paid enough to pay off their student loans before they die, are they to blame? The teachers in our education system have to love their jobs. If they didn't love their job, they would've easily went back to school or attended more school and increases their chances of opportunity to find a different job. Unfortunately our education system is suffering because more and more teachers are finding better jobs that they can actually live off of, and the high school system is stuck with the student teachers that are still in school, or the older teachers that don't feel like they have the time to go back to school. So whats the solution here? The obvious, pay our teachers more! Everyone wants to complain, but then when their students get to school and the parents are doing their homework, they might reconsider. 

Students that drop out tend to earn minimum wage until they've received their GED. Weird right? Ha! In order to succeed in this society today, you have to educate yourself. Does that require you to get yourself in debt by attending college for 6 years because you can't pick a major? Not at all. Go learn a trade! If you want to be successful, you have to have something to give to the world in order to receive something in return. Whether it's photography, mechanic, construction, all the above, any one of those, you practice enough and get really good at your trade, you will succeed.

PARENTS! As you can tell, I obviously like to blame the parents the most for the amount of high school dropouts. It's their job to teach their children from a young age the importance of education. If they don't, they can't be mad when their 57yr old son is still living in their basement. If parents took the time to help student's with their homework, at any age, and show them that they care about their education just as much as the student's should, I believe the students would start to believe in themselves and WANT to better their education. 

Not every child has parents, or people to look up to, etc. and I don't have an answer in that case. I work with children in this situation everyday and the only people they have are the staff members like me that are forcing them to go sit in a classroom Monday-Friday. Whether or not they do their work is their choice, but as a staff member I continuously try to give them hope for themselves because nobody has ever instilled that in their lives before. 

Education is important. If every parent instilled this belief at a young age, I would be interested to see the number of dropouts then. I know as a parent education is one of the top things on my list of priorities to teach my children!

On the Media: "Museumification" of 9/11

Physical:

This museum is located in the exact spot where the twin towers used to stand in New York City, New York.

Psychological:

Brooke narrates you through the 9/11 museum and all the emotions she feels as walking through the museum herself. She does a really good job changing her voice when she is talking about the lives that were taken and the stories they left behind. The pauses shes uses really allows the listener to picture the museum in their head and have the thoughts and feelings they would as if they were physically in the museum themselves. 

Social:

Brooke is playing a tourist. She does an amazing job at narrating her way through the museum, like I mentioned before, and allows the listener to feel as if they were walking through the museum right there with her. She also gives the listener a small audio of the actual recordings from the day 9/11 actually went down. This was one of the most heartbreaking moments, it literally takes you back to the day it happened and puts you in the shoes of the people that were actually there and physically/emotionally affected by it. 

Brooke wanted the listeners to feel her experience of going through the museum now vs. what it's going to be like in the future. Like she mentioned, though people were solemn, she only noticed a few tears. Years from now it's going to be another generation that's walking through it, and it's just going to be more "U.S. History" to them, or like Brooke said, "another catastrophe." That was our catastrophe. That happened to us, and it will forever change the lives of those who were living during the time it happened. 

Culture:

Brooke stops and talks to another visitor about her feelings of having her cousin's name and story be in a museum, meaning forever and ever. The visitor expresses that it actually 'brings it more to home.' That she had family that worked there, and almost seemed honored. 

The emotions there I'm sure are overwhelming. I'm praying that one day I have the opportunity to visit this memorial and experience it for myself, but for now, I can only relate my feelings to the ones I had while visiting the Pearl Harbor memorial. 

The Pearl Harbor memorial was so well put together and includes so much detail, I, myself truly felt like I was apart of it as I read through each of the stories. I also remember seeing all the Japanese people there and without even knowing them personally, I couldn't help but judge them. It was terrible. I remember thinking "what the heck are you even doing here. You're the ones who did this to us." Such a terrible, judgmental thought, I know, but I couldn't help myself. Later that day as I was talking with some girls about a teammate who was actually Japanese and I had completely forgotten until later, we started to wonder what her thoughts were about it. She was already quiet as it is, so none of us dared ask her, but to this day, I'm still curious, what do they attend this memorial for? I don't personally feel like the museum was made for them to come remember all the lives they took when they bombed us, and how it effected our country as a whole, so what are they doing there? Are there Afghans that visit the trade center memorial? Maybe one day I'll get the courage to ask, but not today.

Temporal Context:

Fortunately people are taking well to the museum, giving it the attention it deserves and keeping in mind the history and emotions it reserves. Social Media I think does a good job representing it's history and importance as well. Of course, in later years, who knows what people will be saying about it, who will be visiting it, or what social media will do with it, but only time will tell!

On the Media: The Photo of Aylan Kurdi

Physical:

A photo of a toddler from Syrian who drowned and was washed up in Turkey.

Psychological:

How is this photo affecting us? Personally, how is it affecting you? Brooke did a great job describing in detail the effects it should have on our nation, and us as a society. Like Brooke mentions "it forces us to see what we already know." In other words, it's addressing the elephant in the room that we need to make a change. I know anytime I see any child in any sort of pain or pictured in a traumatic experience, it hits me. Hard. It makes me want to do something about it, and I have opportunities that arise to do so, I rise to the occasion. We all need to have the mindset of arising to the occasion to help. To get out of our comfort zone and create opportunities to better our country.

Social:

Many people are angry. Very angry that the first thing they saw this morning in the newspaper was a photograph of a toddler who had drowned due to his boat being capsized. This family was running from their country because the fear of continuing to live their surpassed the fear of death at sea. So why are people mad? Because, like Brooke mentioned it's forcing people to see what a cruel and evil society we're living in! There are so many more countries that could involve themselves in taking out the leaders that are killing innocent people in Isis. So I say be angry. Be pissed off that your country  isn't doing anything to help the innocent children and families escape from being shot to death in their sleep, or being forced into the army themselves.
Culture:

So what is Isis saying about it? I had to do some more research on the issue, but apparently Isis is claiming those who are trying to escape will "find refuge in Hell." Them trying to escape is against the Islamic religion because the parents are killing off their children. 

AH! This makes me so angry! How are there people that even say things like this still alive?! Honestly, how is it not okay to try to protect your family by escaping the country and people that threaten them a sin? In what right mind would anyone see this as a bad choice. It's frustrating to me to see that there are minimal people taking action, when there are so many things that the countries near Isis can do to help.

I'm sad that this tragedy had to happen to this family, because I know they had good intentions and the parents were doing the best they could with what they had. I don't even have to know the parents personally to know that, I don't have to know their class, religion, or even what type of parenting skills they had to know that them escaping Isis was all under good intentions for their entire family.

Temporal Context:

Social media has the option to take this story up or down. Unfortunately the majority of the UK, (where it was mostly published on the front page of major newspapers) are upset and angry at the press for doing that. When really, they should actually read what the articles are saying and try to help! A lot of the articles I read were mentioning how taking in refugees isn't a long-term solution, but will help build trust. 

I really wish there was something more me, personally could physically do to help families trying to escape the torture of the Army in Isis. Unfortunately all I can do is spread positive stories and hope that someone who has the opportunity to help hears me out and will help those in need.

**One of the biases I found that definitely had an impact on me was the music they chose to play while Brooke was narrating the story! It was sad and depressing and reminded me of the Sarah McLachlan Animal Cruelty commercial that everyone also has a problem with. Why do people get so defensive when someone brings out the empathy in them? Let me know if you ever find a legit answer to that!

HD Photography!

I chose to do a page on my own photography skills. Prayers of all kinds are appreciated.

https://www.facebook.com/haileighdawnphotography

I'm a newer photographer, but I want to get things rolling! Hoping this page will help me out! Target Audience, would be families, couples, and people who just want pictures of them doing cool things! I guess you could say adventure-ers :) If it's high-school students, awesome. College students, great. Anyone who wants to document themselves living life to the fullest, I hope I am the one they choose to capture the moment!

I plan to promote my page through Facebook and Instagram. I know a lot of people my age are getting married, or are already married and having kids! I would love to get into the portrait photography! On the side I would also love to volunteer to take pictures of people doing awesomeness. People who are high on life with smiles on their faces doing whatever it is that they love doing!

My action plan is to post every week about times I can actually go out and take free pictures and hopefully get some volunteers! I mean who doesn't want selfies? I know that the more exciting things I post, the bigger my audience will get and how much more popular it will become! Especially because the majority of my friends are my age, if I post things that are exciting, adventurous, and cool, people will be intrigued and hopefully invite me to take sweet pictures of them doing awesome things too. :)

Well Informed 2.0...Racism 2.0

My Experience with Racism

So we live in a world of racism. Some people are still horribly racist, yes. But does that mean every time something doesn't go your way or every time you run into a problem, you have the right to blame it on your skin color?

This is one of the biggest issues I've been dealing with since moving to Southern Utah. I'm by no means saying that every single person with a different skin color blames their problems on everyone else's skin color, but there are a number of people who do and it really gets on my nerves. Just a few stories for example:

Dixie State Athletes

Waitress not Receiving a Tip

Police Falsely Accused for Being Racist


One I've experienced and went through an entire year and a half of dealing with, and the other stories are ones that I came across online. I'm still amazed and how low people go to get their way, and on the same page, how low people swoop just to offend someone of any race. Yes racism is real and still alive today, but to some extent, there are people that choose to use that card to solve their own issues. 

SO many times does a news story come up and whether it's a white person that was shot and killed or a black person that was shot and killed, someone that complains that they didn't show the story of the other person who died too that day. It's inevitable! 


Conclusion:

I was on the basketball team with a black coach, a white coach, and a variety of ethnicity as teammates. A few teammates made bad choices, didn't follow the NCAA rules and were caught disobeying them, not to mention their crappy attitude towards long practices and road trips, and those teammates were not asked to come back the following year. That summer one of the girls filed a lawsuit against the coach and her father and claimed the coach was being racist against her own race. Multiple false allegations against the coach were made, and many of them dismissed because they were untrue. This player chose to drink, chose to do drugs, and chose to not participate in practices, now tell me what coach wouldn't kick that player off at any given moment?

Not every person with a different skin color is this way, but there is a handful in each ethnicity, including white people! There are so many people out there that will pull any card, and do anything to get their way in life. Well, you know what? If you want to give up your integrity to ruin someone else's life with a false allegation or blasting them on social media about untrue things, then that's up to you. But I intend to hold onto my integrity and values a little longer thank you.

On the Media: The Little Pink Pill

Physical:

The little pink pill, flibanserin, can be prescribed for "anyone". This pill was just sold for a billion dollars, meaning that this pill is set out to be given to any women who feels the need to be sexually satisfied. 

Psychological:

Wait seriously? I mean I understand that I live in Utah and there aren't a lot of people that drink alcohol here, but with the statistic of 60% of the testers that used the pill being social drinkers, have they thought about the long term effects? Not to mention, listen closely about the placebo! Women who took the 'placebo' pill, vs. women who took flibanserin, there was only a .8% difference. So is .8% really worth it? Brooke brought up a good point about libido vs. boredom and the placebo test results displayed this information perfectly. There is a significant decrease in sexual activity after a few years of the relationship, but is it really because of a psychological problem that this pill is supposed to fix, or are we as women just getting bored of the same ol' stuff with our partner? I guess that's for each woman to decide for herself.

Social:

The role of the prescribed drug is easy: getting women to be sexually aroused. The audience for this drug: women who need to get more out of their sex lives. Yes this pill has had a lot of testing done, but like I mentioned before, the test results weren't all that great. So the pill helped 50-60% of women be sexually satisfied, but going back to the placebo test...is that percentage really all that accurate? Not in my opinion.

Culture:

Women who struggle with becoming sexually aroused are pumped, why wouldn't they be?! It's like Brooke mentioned, it's Viagra for women! It also comes with all the same crazy side effects of Viagra comes with except they get worse if you drink alcohol, ha! Sounds heavenly right?
Feminists, now they are not to be messed with about this subject. They obviously have a very strong opinion and don't seem to be changing it anytime soon. They think it's a drug to make women feel bad about themselves, but in the skewed survey, it mentioned that 43% of women struggle becoming aroused. So maybe some women honestly do have a psychological problem with their libido, but like Brooke mentioned, I'm still leaning towards the boredom in bed.

Temporal Context:

Just for fun I checked out the current comments on the blog and my first comment towards them in my head was 'did you even listen to the same talk show I just did?' Some of their comments made absolutely no sense, or they were making false claims about the side effects, taking the entire pill controversy personal. This is where all the drama on social media starts :) People don't listen to the factual statements, they only hear what they want to hear so they can post their negative opinions about it and get someone to argue with them. Annoying.

Regardless, the majority of women are excited about it, as well as the men are too, not to be sexist but what man wouldn't be? Heck, they can both take their little pills together and probably have a fabulous night until the side effects come along! 

My opinion is test it out, see where it goes, but my guess is that the majority of the women taking it will struggle because it's a daily pill and you can't drink alcohol while taking it. So they'll probably get bored with that and move on to the next thing to complain about. If it works for them, great! I'm happy someone smart invented something that's going to help improve their relationships and make them happier people! :) 

http://www.onthemedia.org/story/little-pink-pill/?utm_source=local&utm_medium=treatment&utm_campaign=daMost&utm_content=damostviewed