Boston

This past Monday, the Boston Marathon was bombed. I have some commentary that I feel must be expressed.

First of all, when I heard of this, it sounded like a neo-9/11. I had the impression that Boston was destroyed and all that was left was a could of dust. Thankfully, I was totally wrong. I think back to the Michael Moore film Bowling for Columbine. Moore asserts that Americans are filled with fear. We are filled with fear. The second we feel threatened, we blow the situation up tremendously. That being said, I only think that I got a blown up perspective of the situation. The bombing was horrible. The pictures and videos of the bombing were scary.
I feel the need to be fearful but play devils advocate. The "messed up-ness" of each bombing, shooting or threat to public harmony increases each time. But at the same time, we only see the bad things that happen in the US. There are horrible things that happen around the world every single day.
At this point, I am grateful for the unity that our county has had for the city of Boston. But I can't help to wonder why these types of things keep happening.
My feelings are mixed, but I truly hope we have seen the worst of this.

Black-White IAT

I just took the Black-White IAT. My results were "Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for African American compared to European American". 

I don't know how to think about this. I grew up in a primarily white community. I live in an a primarily white community. I am surprised that I had a subconscious bias against my own race. I genuinely thought it would be the other way around. I am not racist and have no conscious biases against any group. I thought that because of the community I live in, I would have a bias towards white people. The more I learn about places with more diversity, the more I become aware of the lack of diversity where I live. Everything is white. While there are minorities, there aren't enough for me to feel like my community is diverse. If I can find any explanation for why my results show that I have a preference for African Americans is that I highly respect tons of jazz musicians who are black. I never think that I have a bias towards anyone. Personally, I feel that everyone should start a relationship with a clean slate. I try to give everyone a chance before I form any judgement. If a person is mean, then the person is mean. Race doesn't dictate personality, intelligence, or anything like that. I'm not entirely sure race dictates anything. 

The Chief

Ok, so I have done some more research about mascots at colleges and football teams and my attention was drawn to Chief Illiniwek of University of Illinois. The Chief made his first appearance on October 30, 1926. The Chief's dance was supposedly conceived from a dance from the Lakota people. Chief Illiniwek would perform at men's basketball and football games until his retirement on February 21, 2007.

I think that Joseph P. Gone, the Associate Professor of Psychology and Professor of Native American Studies at the University of Michigan says it best, "three things are very clear: (1) for decades the university promoted--and the students believed--that the Chief's dance was an authentic form of some Indian tribal celebration; (2) whether or not the Chief's dance was originally "derived" from a Lakota ritual, it was "adapted"early on for sports events and currently resembles no traditional or contemporary expression of dance known to native people, the Lakota included; and (3) even if the current Chief's dance were an accurate portrayal of any Lakota dance form, that form is Lakota and not native to the Illini. It is also worth noting that the music which accompanies the Chief's dance is completely foreign to any musical expression known to native people--in short, it is the creation of white America."

In my mind, this is the argument that would drive the anti-Chief side of the debate. Not only is the dance a false representation of Lakota tradition, but the Lakota isn't even near the Illini! The Lakota people are further west, around eastern colorado and the Dakotas! I think the worst part about Chief Illiniwek is his costume. I do not see anything that would support the University of Illinois in his outfit. I believe that mascots should be at least dressed in their school colors. The Chief was not dressed in neither orange nor blue.

I want to hear a compelling argument for the Chief. I am aware of my bias against it, and I'd like to hear the other side.

Redskins

So this starts with a semi-related story. In music theory class the other day, we were talking about pentatonic scales. In many traditional Asian styles of music, the pentatonic scale is used quite often. In the media, there is a riff that is associated with Asian stereotypes, but it didn't actually come from Asia.

Follow the link to here the riff, I promise you'll know what I'm talking about. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Asian_Riff_Accurate.mid

Anyway, my teacher goes on to describe things like this. Among his most despised is the Washington Redskins and the "Tomahawk Chop". I believe that this both of these are culturally insensitive and straight up rude. I want to do a series of blogs about this because there is a ton to look at. 

The Washington Redskins name is among the most offensive and it seems that the managers of the team avoid the offensive reality of their name. "Redskin" is a racial epithet. There is no debate that "redskin" is an r-word for Native Americans similar to the n-word for Black people. I try to imagine if a football team was called the "rabbis" and their mascot was exaggerated Jewish stereotypes. I don't think the Jewish community would be too happy about that. 

If you read this, please comment. I want to hear other opinions.

Drew Peterson

"I did not kill Kathleen!" yelled Drew Peterson at his trial. Drew Peterson has been in the media since 2007 for killing his wife. Drew Peterson had a 30-year career as a police officer with the Bolingbrook Police Department. Peterson has had four different wives. His first wife he divorced. His second wife he divorced. His third wife he supposedly killed. And his fourth wife disappeared.
After his third wife, Kathleen Savio, was found dead in a waterless bathtub, nobody thought he was guilty. In 2007, his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson disappeared.
The families of both Stacy Peterson and Kathleen Savio pushed for further investigation. Eventually, in 2009 Peterson was indicted by the Will County Grand Jury and arrested for Savio's murder. On September 6th, 2012, Peterson was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Kathleen Savio. Yesterday, Peterson was sentenced to 38 years in prison.
I am grateful that the Drew Peterson case is over. The issue with his case was the media. The media made a celebrity of Peterson. He was absolutely heartless on camera. Cracking jokes about his dead wives. It makes me sick.

Sexual Assault

This week we dove into the issue of sexual assault. With issues such as this, there are so many things that can be explored. Therefore, I am going to need to dismiss many things while I form an arguement. I've noticed in class that it is a double sided: if it can happen to a girl, it can happen to a guy. I have to dismiss this issue temporarily.
I have some commentary about motives for rape on campus. There are a few reasons that arise in our discussions about why rape occurrs. 1) Guys are drunk and don't understand that "no" means "NO!" 2)Guys are uninformed of what qualifies as rape. 3) Guys are just looking to hook-up.
I think that in general, most of these are true.
While I don't know the exact percent of rape on campus that involve drugs, I imagine it is high. The common situation seems to be that a girl goes to a party and is dressed promiscuously. A guy is wanting to get some action, and makes his move. Unfortunately, he pushes too far and the girl wants him to leave her alone. His judgement is flawed by the alcohol and he eventually forces himself on her.
In our discussions, this is the cookie-cutter situation. This is what the conversations revolve around. While I think that this is a common situation, I think that there are more varying situations.
My arguments are unfocused. I need to do more research about sexual assault. I also think that our discussions in class focus too much on the hypothetical.

Methland 5

Methland ends with Major, the former member of the Sons of Silence, the father of Buck, and the man living with his parents. He had been sober for a while, but he felt like his life wasn't right. The same with Oelwein's doctor, Clay Hallberg. After Hallberg had become sober, he felt like his life was empty. He noticed that his marriage of twenty years had died during his alcoholism. And he noticed that his body was feeling the wrath from years of drunkenness. Major went to a bar one night and had seen a friend of his from high school. She revealed to Major that she had a long-lived crush on him. Elated and drunk, Major reconnects with his friend. He has to force himself home, in fear of being caught by the cops because it would constitute a violation of his probation. He begins to walk home and as he does, the withdrawal from meth overwhelms him. He finds himself wishing the police would find him. He is puking under a tree with a reprise of paranoia that had left him since he became sober. 

There is not one good thing about meth. Not one! We are unable to control it. It comes from foreign countries in huge quantities. A user could start making the meth themselves. The ephedrine that comes from the cold medicines used to make meth will always be protected by the large pharmaceutical companies. Even with restrictions, it is impossible to control. If a person does chose to make a meth lab, there is a never ending list of things that can go wrong. 

 A meth user becomes physically dependent. Meth releases 6 times the regular amount of dopamine that the body can do on it's own. Then someone who does meth becomes dependent on it. While their dependency on it, their health declines. They need more and more crank to get the same high. They are effectively killing themselves. While high, a user may not need to eat or sleep for ridiculous amounts of time, sometimes around 16 hours. When the high begins to fade, they do more and the cycle starts over again. Users also become paranoid and hallucinate. It's not my cup of tea. 

I decided to do some research on the critique of Methland  and found something rather surprising. Many Oelwein, Iowa citizens aren't happy with the book and says that Reding has exaggerated the truth about Oelwein. Here's a link to the article:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/51041562.html?refer=y

Nick Reding