During the past couple weeks of the Holocaust unit, I had never learned so much like I did in just a couple weeks. Honestly after watching movie after movie, I completely learned something new and growing my interest on this tragic event. As I was watching this documentaries I tried to think of reasons why Nazis would commit such crime. I understood the sympathy for the Jews, but I also tried to understand the opposing side. Witch I believe is important when analyzing peoples bad behavior.
I still couldn't understand how inhumane Nazis were, and how they allowed this event to escalate so quickly. Especially when other countries decided not to do anything about it. I believe that If one country had stepped in earlier to make a stop to it, many other countries would join too. It just needed one country, one nation to stand up for those suffering Jews.
I felt so upset watching these movies, making it hard to watch even when I forced myself to watch every bit of it. In school, I believe history classes don't spend the enough time teaching about the holocaust. I strongly believe its important history that teachers should emphasize the importance of this event. If if wasn't for global, I feel like I would have never learned so much about the Holocaust.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Vague Instruction: Obedience to Authority
I thought it was interesting how the idea of obedience to authority that we learned in 1st semester still applies to many situations that we learned recently in the Holocaust. This is especially true when it comes to vague instructions.
In the beginning of the year, we had a case study about Abu Gharib, where the army's higher ups order the soldiers to "soften up" the prisoners for interrogation. When the soldiers complained, they were asked to not question the order and told that if they didn't get the answers out of these people, other Americans were going to be in danger.
This reminded me so much of what happened in the Nazi Germany. There were people who were against or skeptical of the policies and laws against Jews, but at the same time, there was also the popular belief of the Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. The lack of clear instruction was also very evident. Most of the time, it was Hitler's men who came up with the exact ideas and plans to "cleanse" the population. There isn't much proof of what Hitler actually personally ordered in many of these cases.
We also watched this video clip about the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. The commander also gave very vague order of "if they are in the way and slowing you down, then get rid of them" (somewhere along those lines).
In many of these cases, it resulted in countless innocent deaths. But can the vagueness of the instructions also have the power to save lives? In Auschwitz, Flacke's concentration camp was run much nicer than the other ones. The prisoner were actually fed real food; the place was clean. Another example would be how Albert Forster ran his part of Poland. Hitler told them to ethnically cleanse Poland using whatever methods, and Forster chose to make the Poles into German citizen whereas Graiser adopted a much crueler and inhumane methods.
So although vague instruction and the obedience to authority can result in inhumane treatment, massacre, and systematic killing, are the actions that came from the instruction ultimately dependent on the individual itself?
In the beginning of the year, we had a case study about Abu Gharib, where the army's higher ups order the soldiers to "soften up" the prisoners for interrogation. When the soldiers complained, they were asked to not question the order and told that if they didn't get the answers out of these people, other Americans were going to be in danger.
This reminded me so much of what happened in the Nazi Germany. There were people who were against or skeptical of the policies and laws against Jews, but at the same time, there was also the popular belief of the Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. The lack of clear instruction was also very evident. Most of the time, it was Hitler's men who came up with the exact ideas and plans to "cleanse" the population. There isn't much proof of what Hitler actually personally ordered in many of these cases.
We also watched this video clip about the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. The commander also gave very vague order of "if they are in the way and slowing you down, then get rid of them" (somewhere along those lines).
In many of these cases, it resulted in countless innocent deaths. But can the vagueness of the instructions also have the power to save lives? In Auschwitz, Flacke's concentration camp was run much nicer than the other ones. The prisoner were actually fed real food; the place was clean. Another example would be how Albert Forster ran his part of Poland. Hitler told them to ethnically cleanse Poland using whatever methods, and Forster chose to make the Poles into German citizen whereas Graiser adopted a much crueler and inhumane methods.
So although vague instruction and the obedience to authority can result in inhumane treatment, massacre, and systematic killing, are the actions that came from the instruction ultimately dependent on the individual itself?
Friday, February 26, 2016
Back at it again with the double standards!!
While online I found an article of a 29 year old man getting arrested for having a sexual relationship with a student who was 17 years old. He has been charged with three counts of sexual intercourse with a minor and three counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.
I also found another article where the exact same thing happened except the teacher was a woman. Also it is Texas law that you are legally an adult at the age of 17. HOWEVER it is also illegal under Texas law to have any type of sexual relationship with a student! She plead GUILTY to an improper relationship between a teacher and a student. She was sentenced to seven years PROBATION, give up her teacher's license, and will NOT have to register as a sex offender.
This is a complete double standard! This proves that women get lighter sentences than men for the same exact crime! They were both teachers who abused their authority to get sexual favors. Why is the female teacher any less of a predator than a man? Sexual abuse is sexual abuse regardless of the gender of the predator. Both teachers should have gone to jail and should have to register as a sex offender! That woman can get another job where she could possibly be around kids, and no one would know! How would you react or feel if you didn't know your young sibling was around a woman or man who had inappropriate relationships in the past?
I also found another article where the exact same thing happened except the teacher was a woman. Also it is Texas law that you are legally an adult at the age of 17. HOWEVER it is also illegal under Texas law to have any type of sexual relationship with a student! She plead GUILTY to an improper relationship between a teacher and a student. She was sentenced to seven years PROBATION, give up her teacher's license, and will NOT have to register as a sex offender.
This is a complete double standard! This proves that women get lighter sentences than men for the same exact crime! They were both teachers who abused their authority to get sexual favors. Why is the female teacher any less of a predator than a man? Sexual abuse is sexual abuse regardless of the gender of the predator. Both teachers should have gone to jail and should have to register as a sex offender! That woman can get another job where she could possibly be around kids, and no one would know! How would you react or feel if you didn't know your young sibling was around a woman or man who had inappropriate relationships in the past?
Trump: Hypocrisy at Best
Donald Trump, a current Republican candidate running for President, has made multiple remarks regarding illegal immigrants coming into the the U.S. from Mexico. He has regarded them as criminals, rapists, and more, and he is focusing on not allowing any illegal immigrants in America and keeping them in Mexico. He also has said that he would remove all current illegal immigrants and put them back into Mexico. In last night's political debates, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz criticized Trump for having illegal immigrants help build one of his hotels in the United States. Trump did not have an excuse in doing so, so how trustworthy is Trump? He is the Republican front runner and his supporters love his idea for getting rid of illegal immigrants, but how could one trust Trump if he uses those illegal immigrants to help him? It shows that Trump would technically support those illegal immigrants because he is paying for their work and giving them jobs, something which Republicans would not want to hear. If I was to vote for Trump, my faith would be fading by now because of a man who is a hypocrite and does not even follow his own ideas.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Medicinal Marijuana in Australia
Recently, a bill was passed in Australia that makes medicinal Marijuana legal for those who need it. Marijuana is becoming globally legalized to some extent in many countries, with the U.S. being one of them. All of Australia has legal medicinal marijuana, why wouldn't all of the states in the United States have legal medicinal marijuana? An issue I am focused on regarding the legality of marijuana is the fact that marijuana is still on the list of Schedule 1 drugs. If it is legally medicinal and recreational in many states, why should it still be on the schedule 1 list? Alcohol and tobacco are not on schedule 1, where I believe the government is wrong. It should be debated why alcohol and tobacco are not on the list but marijuana is, because they have more harmful effects than marijuana I believe. Another thing to consider is that marijuana is used to treat cancer patients, but alcohol and tobacco are not used to treat anyone who's sick, they would only harm one's health.
Global Warming. Who can deny it now?
Global warming. One big obvious problem we know exists, well at least most of us. There are always those who think economically and never think about the effect of their actions. Alright let's jump right in.
One major factor of global warming is the carbon emission from factories. Coal pollutes the environment more than ever and is the one major resource we use to run factories. So it would make sense to try to find a cleaner source of energy right? Well take this, the idea or making factories more green didn't pass well in the White house. Obama and his green energy supporters put out the idea that part of our taxes should be put into getting cleaner energy solutions to work especially in the factories. The project would cost billions of dollars. The opposing side also known as the Republicans take a look at the proposition in an economic way. The billion dollar price tag is one reason why they are against this idea. They as well are siding with factory owners and lobbying may be suspected. According to them, getting factories to change their means of energy would take ages upon ages. Cleaner solutions would cut jobs as well as burden the owners financially. " It's all about the money money money...we don't care about no body body body..." yea you get my modified reference from the song "Price tag" by Jessie J. They fail too look at the beneficial long run of the proposition. How else are you going to save the environment. Solving this problem requires taking risk,going through inconveniences and spending a lot financially. Apparently they don't care that the earth is abnormally heating up and we are losing the arctic areas. I mean what other catastrophe could happen? All these problems that apparently seem small to some are building up to something very catastrophic. America is the one of the worlds largest polluters. Maybe setting a good example for the world would be a good idea, no?
One major factor of global warming is the carbon emission from factories. Coal pollutes the environment more than ever and is the one major resource we use to run factories. So it would make sense to try to find a cleaner source of energy right? Well take this, the idea or making factories more green didn't pass well in the White house. Obama and his green energy supporters put out the idea that part of our taxes should be put into getting cleaner energy solutions to work especially in the factories. The project would cost billions of dollars. The opposing side also known as the Republicans take a look at the proposition in an economic way. The billion dollar price tag is one reason why they are against this idea. They as well are siding with factory owners and lobbying may be suspected. According to them, getting factories to change their means of energy would take ages upon ages. Cleaner solutions would cut jobs as well as burden the owners financially. " It's all about the money money money...we don't care about no body body body..." yea you get my modified reference from the song "Price tag" by Jessie J. They fail too look at the beneficial long run of the proposition. How else are you going to save the environment. Solving this problem requires taking risk,going through inconveniences and spending a lot financially. Apparently they don't care that the earth is abnormally heating up and we are losing the arctic areas. I mean what other catastrophe could happen? All these problems that apparently seem small to some are building up to something very catastrophic. America is the one of the worlds largest polluters. Maybe setting a good example for the world would be a good idea, no?
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Ethan Couch's victim
I saw this video on Facebook of Ethan Couch and the one of the victim's from the accident. Sergio Molina is a 18 year old who was left paralyzed. He was kicked out of the hospital because of lack of insurance. Couch's family refuses to help with any of the medical bills. Even though they received $2 million in settlement with the Couch's, Sergio's family said "the first 6 months of care have already cost them half of that."
Its disgusting that they won’t help Sergio and his family after what Ethan caused. After all, they did use the “Affluenza” defense, meaning “it affected young wealthy people, symptoms of which include a lack of motivation, feelings of guilt, and a sense of isolation.”
All though $2 million is a lot of money, it won't pay all the suffering and expense Sergio and his family are going to have to go through.
Read more: http://nypost.com/2016/02/23/the-pictures-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-doesnt-want-to-see/
Free Ke$ha
Over break, I'm sure lots of you saw or read something about Ke$ha. If you haven't, I will fill you in.
Over the past decade, Ke$ha has been sexually and emotionally abused by a songwriter/producer, Dr. Luke, who Ke$ha is in contract with through Sony. She hasn't made music in the last few years because she refuses to work with him, and I assume that she doesn't want him to profit off of her (which I think is reasonable) and she has to complete six albums with him before her contract is up. She took her case to court hoping that a Judge would annul the contract, but unfortunately she wasn't showed any compassion. Reading a follow up article, there was a quote from the Judge saying that he didn't understand what her problem was and that there wasn't any evidence to prove it. Upon googling "Ke$ha," pictures of her crying, devastated in the courthouse while the Judge was reading the ruling which makes me doubt that she would be making this up.
How is it that Chris Brown, who has been known for beating Rihanna, free to make music and continue on with his life -while Ke$ha is forced to work with her abuser and isn't free to leave and continue on with hers?
How can a judge tell a person (man or woman) that they weren't raped?
A classic case of he said she said, how would you handle this case if you were the judge?
Over the past decade, Ke$ha has been sexually and emotionally abused by a songwriter/producer, Dr. Luke, who Ke$ha is in contract with through Sony. She hasn't made music in the last few years because she refuses to work with him, and I assume that she doesn't want him to profit off of her (which I think is reasonable) and she has to complete six albums with him before her contract is up. She took her case to court hoping that a Judge would annul the contract, but unfortunately she wasn't showed any compassion. Reading a follow up article, there was a quote from the Judge saying that he didn't understand what her problem was and that there wasn't any evidence to prove it. Upon googling "Ke$ha," pictures of her crying, devastated in the courthouse while the Judge was reading the ruling which makes me doubt that she would be making this up.
How is it that Chris Brown, who has been known for beating Rihanna, free to make music and continue on with his life -while Ke$ha is forced to work with her abuser and isn't free to leave and continue on with hers?
How can a judge tell a person (man or woman) that they weren't raped?
A classic case of he said she said, how would you handle this case if you were the judge?
Friday, February 19, 2016
Martin Shkreli stuff
On the subject of him raising the price of Daraprim, a pill used to help treat AIDS, by 5000%.
On a separate note, I simultaneously respect him for making a TON of money and taking full advantage of the capitalist society we live in and at the same time dislike him for doing something that is morally questionable.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Armenian genocide today
I wanted to look more into how the Armenian genocide is treated in Turkey today. I know from class that it is commonly denied and not taught in schools, but I wanted to find some more exact stats and examples.
According to http://www.history.com/topics/armenian-genocide
It is illegal to talk about the extent of the genocide in Turkey. Now this really surprised me, because censorship like this invites more extreme intrusions on citizen rights.
I also learned that it took a long time for even other countries to refer to the event as a genocide in media outlets. For example referring to it as the "Armenian genocide" first occurred in the New York Times in 2004.
This is actually a very deep rooted issue as apparently only 10 percent of Turkish citizens believe that their government should recognize the massacres, according to a Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies conducted poll.
Furthermore, children in school are taught not only that there was no organized genocide, but also emphasized instances of Armenian violence and regards them as "treacherous".
So the isssue is actually more more deep that I initially thought, I can't exactly blame the population for not thinking there was a massacre however because that is what they were taught in school.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/04/23/turkey-armenia-genocide-massacre-anniversary/26261059/
According to http://www.history.com/topics/armenian-genocide
It is illegal to talk about the extent of the genocide in Turkey. Now this really surprised me, because censorship like this invites more extreme intrusions on citizen rights.
I also learned that it took a long time for even other countries to refer to the event as a genocide in media outlets. For example referring to it as the "Armenian genocide" first occurred in the New York Times in 2004.
This is actually a very deep rooted issue as apparently only 10 percent of Turkish citizens believe that their government should recognize the massacres, according to a Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies conducted poll.
Furthermore, children in school are taught not only that there was no organized genocide, but also emphasized instances of Armenian violence and regards them as "treacherous".
So the isssue is actually more more deep that I initially thought, I can't exactly blame the population for not thinking there was a massacre however because that is what they were taught in school.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/04/23/turkey-armenia-genocide-massacre-anniversary/26261059/
Friday, February 12, 2016
Donald Trump Like Hitler?
We've been talking a lot about Hitler and his Nazi ideology lately, about how he rejects outside races that he believes to be "unpure" and capable of recking havoc in society and their "perfect world". I see many parallels between Hitler's policy at the beginning and Trump's. He is gaining support throughout the country with the conservative people, rather than fixing the problems, he is simply removing people in hopes of solving the problems in the united states. Hitler did the same thing. Rather than revitalizing the economy of Germany through economic concepts and hardworking politics. Trump's politics are similar because he wishes to close immigration into the United States. He has been quoted stating: "“For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well as in other Latin American countries),”. Trump wishes to get rid of all illegal immigrants within the united states, and with that, trump says that he will reduce crime rates, which he believes comes from who he classifies as the Mexicans and Latinos. The racist remarks that Trump speaks of under political debates shows scary similarities between Hitler's racist remarks toward Jews. I guess my question is, what is the reason that so many Americans support Trump's policies?
Why was there a gap in prosecutions against SS taking part in the final solution?
After the war, many SS fled in order to escape punishment. I still believe that there was not enough effort directed toward apprehending many of them however. Immediately after the war, there were the Nuremberg and Frankfurt trials which punished many Nazis but from then until around 1960s there was not much prosecution. Apparently the burden of proof was too large according to many prosecutors, but I disagree. I think that there should have been more effort to actually find the proof. Out of 6500 SS workers in Auschwitz, only 49 have been convicted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/world/europe/oskar-groning-auschwitz-birkenau-guard-trial.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/world/europe/oskar-groning-auschwitz-birkenau-guard-trial.html
How efficient was the Nazi propaganda machine in sparking the war?
I did some research into how the German public was coaxed into supporting the war/ participating. I wondered how the 1939 invasion of Poland did not concern the people. This is an important topic because it shows just how effective Nazi propaganda was, and thus more readily explains how deportations to concentration camps only increased as the war went on and presumably more people were aware of the Holocaust.
To begin with, the Nazis published an outcry against "polish atrocities" in reference to alleged violence committed against ethnic Germans in Poland.
Then, they staged an assault on a German radio outpost with SS soldiers dressed as Polish soldiers, and portrayed the invasion as self defense against polish "incursions".
They were careful to note that they were simply beating the Poles back and not engaging in war.
Once the war began the "final solution" was hidden from the public and never publicly detailed. Citizens were forbidden from reading allied papers condemning German atrocities and Goebbels reminded the population that these were all fake claims.
I believe that propaganda such as this, despite being incredibly efficient, still needed the compliance of the German public with Nazi movements. Basically I believe that even though many were deceived, a significant amount of the population had to still be ok with and know about the final solution and support the war.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007822
Psychology of Auschwitz
Auschwitz was a hell hole. At the of entering the death camp the arrival of every prisoners was a nightmare. The conditions of the camp were unbearable and its is unbelievable how many survived the conditions. Many of the prisoners after 2 or 3 months got use to the death that happened around them everyday. The death rate was high that it left the prisoners with no emotion. They had to be in a mental state were they became accustom to deaths. But not every prisoner had this mentality others could not bare with the violence that they faced everyday which lead them to suicide. With the conditions of the camp many had to adapt quickly to the atmosphere and live everyday like it was the norm. The most common mental state of prisoners was depression. It made many have a breakdown and made them lose the faith of surviving. Still with the horrifying conditions many survived but the mental state of these survivors will never be the same.
Forbidden love?
The other day I was having a conversation with a friend, and she asked me if I thought that love between an Auschwitz prisoner and an SS officer possible. I found this article online about a real life story of how an Auschwitz prisoner escape the gas chamber with her sister because of an SS officer.
He sent her biscuit and a note saying, "Love - I fell in love with you" after she was asked to sang for him on his birthday. She and her sister even testified for him later at a trial. This story reminded me of the Kingdom of Auschwitz where one lady had a kid with an SS officer was allowed to married him and leave Auschwitz.
What was interesting to me was reading the public reaction to this kind of forbidden love and looking at the comments below for this article. Many people say that there was no love, and she did what she had to do to survive. That in this kind of power dynamic there was no consent. There might be some truth to that- she might have "love" him because she had no choice to, but at the same time, it could have been so much more than just that.
The article also bring up how people are enrage and mad at most romantic stories between a prisoner and a SS officer because it makes the SS officer seem to be more human. There is this popular belief that SS officers are cold-hearted, psychopaths that just kills for the enjoyment, but we learned in global that that's not the case. They are humans too, but of course, it does not condemn them from the things that they have done. In the Kingdom of Auschwitz, we were given many examples of how the SS officers got to decide what they wanted to do, such as Flacke who treated his prisoner quite nicely.
After learning all of these things about Nazi Germany in the past few weeks, I really think that it's quite upsetting for someone to assume that everyone had no choice but to obey the Nazis and that the Nazi were psychopaths. It's much more complex than that, yet many people hold on to the belief that it was that simple.
What do you guys think? Do you think that love really could have existed between a prisoner and an SS officer?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193520/Read-real-life-story-Auschwitz-prisoner-Helena-Citronova-falling-love-SS-guard-Franz-Wunsch-amid-controversy-Kate-Breslin-novel-Time.html
He sent her biscuit and a note saying, "Love - I fell in love with you" after she was asked to sang for him on his birthday. She and her sister even testified for him later at a trial. This story reminded me of the Kingdom of Auschwitz where one lady had a kid with an SS officer was allowed to married him and leave Auschwitz.
What was interesting to me was reading the public reaction to this kind of forbidden love and looking at the comments below for this article. Many people say that there was no love, and she did what she had to do to survive. That in this kind of power dynamic there was no consent. There might be some truth to that- she might have "love" him because she had no choice to, but at the same time, it could have been so much more than just that.
The article also bring up how people are enrage and mad at most romantic stories between a prisoner and a SS officer because it makes the SS officer seem to be more human. There is this popular belief that SS officers are cold-hearted, psychopaths that just kills for the enjoyment, but we learned in global that that's not the case. They are humans too, but of course, it does not condemn them from the things that they have done. In the Kingdom of Auschwitz, we were given many examples of how the SS officers got to decide what they wanted to do, such as Flacke who treated his prisoner quite nicely.
After learning all of these things about Nazi Germany in the past few weeks, I really think that it's quite upsetting for someone to assume that everyone had no choice but to obey the Nazis and that the Nazi were psychopaths. It's much more complex than that, yet many people hold on to the belief that it was that simple.
What do you guys think? Do you think that love really could have existed between a prisoner and an SS officer?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193520/Read-real-life-story-Auschwitz-prisoner-Helena-Citronova-falling-love-SS-guard-Franz-Wunsch-amid-controversy-Kate-Breslin-novel-Time.html
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Remember
In the entire world there are only a few hundred thousand who survived the Holocaust and even fewer victims who survived Auschwitz. It scares me to think that after all the survivors pass away, how long would it be until we forget, or believe that it happened? 15 years after the Holocaust happened, survivors came out to talk about their experience and to testify what happened, there were people who still could not believe the Holocaust happened even when there was living breathing proof that it did. What will happen when there are no more survivors to tell their story. How will this story change when no one can no longer talk about their experience? In years to come will people still believe their stories? Books and stories get lost and forgotten all the time. We all know the name W.E. B. Du Bois, but how many of us go to the library on our own time to learn about him and his story? Most of us read The Diary of Anne Frank because we HAD to for school. How many of us would have actually read the book just because we wanted too?
I think that the idea behind giving athletes the right to verbally commit to a college in advance to signing day is a good idea. This gives college coaches and even the athlete a little bit of a relief. College coaches like having their athletes verbally committed in advance because it makes it easier for the coaches to continue recruiting of other players.
Many top notch athletes tend to verbally commit early in their high school years. An athlete knowing that they have a school to go to is a nice comforting feeling for them. This doesn't mean that athletes who have verbally committed are guaranteed to attend that specific school. When a player verbally commits to a school they still have requirements and standards in which the coach holds them responsible for. An athlete can loose their commitment due to many different reasons; their grades drop too low, they start having poor performances on the field, or the player gets in trouble. There are a lot more ways people get their commitment stripped but these are the most common reasons. This being said athletes who have verbally committed still need to keep their grades up, work hard on and off the field, and perform well in order to keep their spot on the roster.
On the flip side; it is not always the coach who has the final say in where the player ends up actually going to school. What I mean by this is that every year, in all college sports, athletes will verbally commit to a school in which turns out not to be the best fit for them. At any point in time the player can take their commitment back and decide to go elsewhere. This is just like how a college coach can take away his commitment to the player.
Many top notch athletes tend to verbally commit early in their high school years. An athlete knowing that they have a school to go to is a nice comforting feeling for them. This doesn't mean that athletes who have verbally committed are guaranteed to attend that specific school. When a player verbally commits to a school they still have requirements and standards in which the coach holds them responsible for. An athlete can loose their commitment due to many different reasons; their grades drop too low, they start having poor performances on the field, or the player gets in trouble. There are a lot more ways people get their commitment stripped but these are the most common reasons. This being said athletes who have verbally committed still need to keep their grades up, work hard on and off the field, and perform well in order to keep their spot on the roster.
On the flip side; it is not always the coach who has the final say in where the player ends up actually going to school. What I mean by this is that every year, in all college sports, athletes will verbally commit to a school in which turns out not to be the best fit for them. At any point in time the player can take their commitment back and decide to go elsewhere. This is just like how a college coach can take away his commitment to the player.
Auschwitz Trail
I was looking for articles based on Auschwitz and I came across this article about an Auschwitz trail. Reinhold Hanning, 94-year old former Nazi SS guard, has gone into trial in Germany for the death of at least 170,000 people. Its been said that Hanning met the Jewish prisoners when they arrived at the camps in Poland and may have escorted some to the gas chambers. Although he has admitted in being a guard there, he has denied that he was involved in the mass murder. Hanning is one of the four elderly former Nazi guards who are due to go on trial in the coming months.
It´s crazy to know that after 73 years of Hanning being a SS guard at the death camps, he is barely going to trial for all the deaths that happened at the Auschwitz. Although its been a very long time, at least there could be justice for the awful and disgusting experiences that many innocent Jewish had to go through.
If you want to read the article, here´s the link. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35547032
It´s crazy to know that after 73 years of Hanning being a SS guard at the death camps, he is barely going to trial for all the deaths that happened at the Auschwitz. Although its been a very long time, at least there could be justice for the awful and disgusting experiences that many innocent Jewish had to go through.
If you want to read the article, here´s the link. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35547032
After Beyonce's amazing political performance at the super bowl, she received a lot of negative reactions from anyone who watched the halftime show. Some people criticized her for bringing race into a football game and even went as far as comparing the Black Panther Party to the KKK. Although there is some aspect of race in the Black Panther Party, the main reason for the creation of this party was to fight for their equality. The Black Panther Party was not secluded for only black people. They stood for and encouraged "power to the PEOPLE". All people. The KKK was strictly for white people and terrorized anyone who wasn't. The comparison between the KKK and the Black Panther Party is just absurd. Both parties are two very different organizations whose beliefs were also very different. The Black Panther Party was created to protect black communities from the constant oppression and injustice they faced on a daily basis brought on BY THE KKK. And you know what, without the Black Panther Party, without the civil rights movement football would be a whole different ball game. Players like Cam Newton or Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson, Kordell Stewart, OJ Simpson, Adrian Peterson, Michael Vick and so many more made the game that you love today the way it is.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
What if there's already a cure to cancer...
What if there is already a cure to cancer out there, but we just don't know about it?
I have thought about this several times, but have always come to the conclusion that there is no way that humans would do that to one other, but recently from what we have seen in class, humans are capable of anything. I was stumbling through current events and saw a page that titled "Can bananas be the cure to cancer?" I thought it was silly because wouldn't scientists have figured out if something so simple could be used to cure so many people, and that's when I thought "what if?" Cancer is a multibillion dollar industry whether the money comes from surgeries, chemotherapy, or other forms of treatment. If someone had the information that could potentially end that money influx, would they share it, keep it to themselves, or even be paid off to discard it completely?
What would you do if you had the cure for Cancer?
I have thought about this several times, but have always come to the conclusion that there is no way that humans would do that to one other, but recently from what we have seen in class, humans are capable of anything. I was stumbling through current events and saw a page that titled "Can bananas be the cure to cancer?" I thought it was silly because wouldn't scientists have figured out if something so simple could be used to cure so many people, and that's when I thought "what if?" Cancer is a multibillion dollar industry whether the money comes from surgeries, chemotherapy, or other forms of treatment. If someone had the information that could potentially end that money influx, would they share it, keep it to themselves, or even be paid off to discard it completely?
What would you do if you had the cure for Cancer?
Cam Newton Claims People are Scared of Him
A week before the Super Bowl, Cam Newton, the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, said "I'm an African-American QB, that scares people". What triggered this is that I believe Cam Newton has faced criticism in the media due to his style of play and the way he acts on the field, which is more different than the traditional quarterback in the NFL. Newton faces adversity in the position he's in, but does it really have to do with race? No one brings up the fact that he's African-American, they only bring up the way he acts on and off the field. The issue I'm trying to bring up is whether race plays a part or not in the NFL anymore. No one addressed Newton's race except for Mr. Newton himself, so was there any justification for Cam Newton to say that people are "scared" of him because he is African-American?
Overcharge you to death
So I recently came across a video having to do with Martin Shkreli the former CEO of turning pharmaceuticals which is the manufacturer of two main products, Daraprim for the treatment of toxoplasmosis which they got marketing rights from Impax Laboratories, and Vecamyl for the treatment of hypertension. This company was launched in February 2015 but received a lot of criticism a couple of months later when he skyrocketed the price at an estimated "5000% following its acquisition of rights to the drug in 2015". So the once $13 tablet went up too $750. And I was just thinking how I would react to the question he got asked here? I would imagine your moral and ethics would come into play, but for him to just smirk when asked “ what do you tell that pregnant old lady that might have AIDS with no income that needs Daraprim to survive” and then go to twitter and post that it's " Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government" is just absurd and ridiculous to me. Unfortunately I feel like this is just part of our capitalist world, to try to make a profit instead of trying to do good to our fellow peers and world.
More info:
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?
After seeing how some people genuinely believed that the Jews were responsible for 9/11 attacks, I started to wonder why people would believe such a thing. Personally, I think a general ignorance or lack of understanding of how certain systems work would contribute to believing conspiracies. For example believing that 9/11 could actually have been caused by explosions in the buildings, that jet fuel couldn't melt steel beams. According to the New York times and Time magazine featured psychologists, people who believe on conspiracy theory tend to believe many others. And people buy conspiracies when they feel like they have less control over their lives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/why-rational-people-buy-into-conspiracy-theories.html?_r=0
http://time.com/3997033/conspiracy-theories/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/why-rational-people-buy-into-conspiracy-theories.html?_r=0
http://time.com/3997033/conspiracy-theories/
Friday, February 5, 2016
Nazi Germany
I think that the Nazi regime and policies perfectly demonstrates the concepts of mob mentality and the sway childhood events have. Seeing how normal people become at least tolerant of the execution of Jews in the Baltic states and seeing how at least some normal people joined the SS, shows a few things. First of all, after being subliminally and blatantly fed propaganda about Jews for more than a decade, from authoritative figures who you admire for fixing Germany, it is easy to see why people accepted these ideas. I think that most people who accepted these ideas and targeted Jews themselves had a conscience. What little aversion to the ideas was left, was probably crushed by peer pressure and the fact that so many people are openly supporting it. For example, when the accordion player just started playing on top of a pile of Jewish corpses. That was probably the case with the Einsatzgruppen volunteer in Lithuania in the documentary.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
We are still in a mild cold war.
You would think that after WWII, every country would have understood that Hitler's expansion and fueling of the world war was something never to commence again. But now it looks like it's starting all over again with China and Russia. Lets begin with China, a quite powerful and controlling nation. Their stocks are tanking and their economy is taking a fearful dive warning it's people that something worse could happen in the future. Looking at how China is behaving, all they want right now is show their power and superiority. They want everyone to know that no one can stop them. One way they are doing this is by claiming the outlying islands saying it used to be theirs. They getting closer and closer to the Philippines and this is seriously worrying them. If no one stops them, they'll keep on going. One missile gets shot by accident or someone intervenes, a war could get started. Russia takes over Crimea, fly's into Turkish airspace and it's president clearly casually says he wants to blow up America. Ok that's just to shock the world but Russia does have capabilities of creating mass damage. Here is the thing, they are no thinking about, when they fuel another war and America and it's have to bombard, they will be in a worst condition than they were before.
Germany was bombarded and the country was left in devastation. It took them 30 years to get back on track and running again.
Germany was bombarded and the country was left in devastation. It took them 30 years to get back on track and running again.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Signing Day
There are a lot of great athletes in high school doing big things, and because of this, some of them receive scholarships due to their hard work and talent. Many times kids will only receive a one offer, but then there is the occasional 5-star recruit who receives 20+ offers to universities all over the nation. As many of the kids I know have been signing with different schools like Hawaii and UCI, there are some that still haven't made their decisions on schools. Although you do want to select the right college, I believe some kids are holding off for the wrong reasons. Social media plays a big aspect in our lives and are sometimes over abused. These 5-star recruits will post pictures with different college jerseys and verbally commit to a school and then end up signing with another school. Why are athletes given the right to say something to a school and then go against it. I guess what I would say to this is, "Don't believe the hype". It truly isn't official until you sign the letter if intent. In some ways it is wrong that people are allowed to do this. Thoughts?
Cam Newton Pulls the Race Card
As Super Bowl 50 comes up in Santa Clara, the Panthers are taking on the Denver Broncos behind Peyton Manning. The leader of the Carolina Panthers, Cam Newton, is making history as one of the few black quarterbacks in the Superbowl. However, Cam made a comment about him being a black quarterback and that people should be "scared" of him. I don't believe it is the color of his skin that is the intimidating part, maybe just the fact that he is 6'5" and 250 pounds. I believe Cam is making a great impact in the NFL and this comment was unnecessary. However, the media plays it out to be a bigger deal then it is. It seems as if the media always tries to blow things up as a big deal. This brings me to the point, why is there so much "talk" before the big game? I thought they were here to play football but for some reason the NFL takes a whole week to publicize both teams and the unnecessary talking. Lets just play football!
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