Stereotypes

2) What factors contribute to prejudice and how?
6) Is it possible to grow to adulthood without harboring at least some prejudice toward certain groups.

Stereotypes are all around us; while driving a car, taking a test, walking down the street, watching a movie. Many of us are so instilled by these lies that we do not realize that what we are saying is racist or sexist or just wrong. The reason we say these things is because of the outside influences that play a huge role in our lives. Family can be one these factors. If a father has had bad relations with a Hispanic man, and always speaks of the interaction with disdain, then it is natural that the son or daughter may harbor feelings against this specific race. The same is evident in friendship. If a friend constantly talks about how much they hate jocks and continually exposes their flaws, then the person will start believing it too. I believe that there is a way to avoid these stereotypes. It is not easy to stop judging people, but it is possible. I find that every time my parents judge a person walking down the street or get angry at an Asian driver or assume that all drivers of a BMW or a Mercedes is Armenian, I find myself getting more and more angry with them. Almost everything that my parents hate or are against, I love or am content with. This is because I do not want to be anything like them in the sense that  I do not want to be another judgmental Armenian who assumes that they are right about everything. It is wrong to think that Armenians are the most superior race. It is wrong to think that all Asian drivers are terrible. It is wrong to assume that all blond girls and sport playing guys are not intelligent. Therefore it is wrong to judge and is wrong to believe in stereotypes.

What's Rape?

Los Angeles Times
Tina Susman
March 17, 2013
Two teenage boys, Trent Mays(17) and Ma'lik Richmond (16), in the small town of Steubenville, Ohio, thought it would be a good idea to take an extremely intoxicated girl to their house and rape her. They also thought it would be a good idea to take videos and pictures of the rape in progress. What they did not think was where their actions would take them. The next day, the sixteen year old girl was exposed to the videos and pictures that were being sent to everyone in school. She asked her friends, "Oh my God, please tell me this isn’t true." She had no recollection of that night. She had no idea who had done that to her. Immediately her and her family contacted the police. It was said that if it was not for the media coverage of the entire case, there would not be a verdict and the two boys would go free. The town did a wonderful job at trying to save their two star football players and undermine the innocent girl. The coach had actually tried to end all allegations against the boys. The two teens thought that coach "took care of it" and that they had nothing to be worried about, but they were wrong. There were actually witnesses that saw the girl get raped. They received immunity in return for their testimonies, but they should have been tried also. They claimed that they did not think what their friends were doing was rape. “It wasn’t violent,” he said. “I didn’t know exactly what rape was.” How do you not know what rape is? How can a person stand there and watch (and most probably record) a girl, a sixteen year old girl, get violated. They said she was not moving. She was limp, passed out. She was defenseless. A sentence of juvenile jail until twenty-one was not nearly the justice that poor girl deserved to see from the boys that took away everything from her.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ohio-teens-sentenced-in-rape-20130317,0,7974442.story

Riots in Egypt

Los Angeles Times
Jeffrey Fleishman
March 9, 2013

A police officer is carried away from the burning police club in Zamalek, an upscale area.

After a soccer game in Cairo, twenty-one soccer fans are sentenced to death, accused of starting the riot. Now, Egyptians are taking the streets and making sure their government knows how they feel about convicting twenty-one of their innocent, fellow fans. Seven police officers were acquitted, or freed from their sentence, while the rest, the civilians, still faced death row. Seventy-four fans were trampled and killed at the game in March of last year. Civilians are outraged that the actual guilty party, all of the convicted police, were found not guilty while the rest of the Egyptians were still sentenced to die. Egyptians blocked the Suez Canal by dropping big vessels into the water, causing the boats being unable to sail through. The military quickly took care of that problem, but they had another issue on their hands. The Ultras, the hardcore soccer fans, had set fire to a local police social club and blocking the firetrucks' path to the club. This stunt by the Port Said court caused a greater divide between the police and the people. Now, the civilians are even more suspicious of the corrupted police. It seems as though the unrest will continue in Egypt and will take a while for Egypt to rebuild itself as a unified country.
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-fiery-protests-follow-upholding-of-death-sentences-in-eyptian-soccer-riots-20130309,0,909657.story

Better than "Project -X"

If I had a $100,000 party, here are some of the necessities;

·             The location of the party would be on multiple rooftops that are connected to each other, making it easy for guests to go from one building to the next. This means that a couple of building will need to be rented, or to just be able to lease the roof for the night.

·             Each roof will have the same theme, but presented in different ways. The theme will be the ocean. Although this is a cliché theme to a party, the innovative ways it will be presented will keep people talking about the party for years.

·            Each rooftop will have a pool some with exotic fish in it, others so that people can swim in, and the rest that will allow people to swim with fish.

·           One of the buildings will have a glass roof under a pool to make people feel like they are surrounded by the ocean.

·            Another section will include a completely underwater party. On this roof, the guests will be handed swimming tanks to be able to join the submerged party. There will be a DJ that will have a music system (waterproof, or at least wrapped in plastic) glued into the floor. People will also be handed out underwater headphones that will project music as if they are in their own world. There will be different stations just to make sure all of the guests are satisfied with the music they dance/swim to. Just to add a little more excitement, sharks will be floating around and dancing with the guests.

·            There will be underwater rooms and caves that can be explored. People can even dive into the rebuilt version of “Atlantis” or can see the remains of the Titanic (some will be real remnants while others will be fake). There will also be fictional characters such as mermaids or sirens that will swim around and just be interesting to watch.

·            The food, continuing with the ocean theme, will obviously be seafood, but each roof will have seafood from different corners of the world. The food will range from Japanese sushi (that will float around in little boats to people) to Italian Cioppino (an Italian seafood stew which is incredibly tasty).

·            The roofs will be connected by jetliners that will swing the guests from one corner of the party to the next and about two hundred feet under them will be streets of New York.

·            Because of the buildings’ height, it might get chilly outside. People will able to get heat from a variety of places. There will be heaters everywhere, some campfires, and designer coats will be handed out, just to make sure the guests are warm.

·            The guest list will range from 2,000 to 3,000 people. There will be some guests who have priority such as celebrities or people who pay to be VIP, but the rest will be free admittance with a first come first serve mentality.

Florida's Sinkholes

Los Angeles Times
Marisa Gerber
March 1, 2013
On Thursday night, Jeremy Bush ran to his brother's room after hearing what sounded like a car crash that was followed by his brother's scream. The only thing he could see was a mattress and immediately ran forward to see if he can save his brother from a cavity in the earth (sinkhole). Jeremy sadly could not help his brother and got stuck in the sinkhole himself. He was later rescued by deputy Douglas Duvall who was devastated by the sinkhole's ability to cause so much destruction. Thirty-six year old Jeff Bush went to bed that night but never got to see the next day. Sinkholes are usually formed near limestone regions and are caused by a caving of an underground stream, meaning that sinkhole swallow up water and any object that comes into contact. The sinkhole in the Bush's house is still growing and Florida officials cannot stop it because of the condition of the house. The house can collapse at any moment making it unstable and dangerous to enter. Engineers and rescue teams are waiting for the house to fall but it can be said that Jeff Bush passed away that very night. Nature is cruel, chaotic, and unpredictable or able to be prevented. One minute a person can be alive and healthy while the next second all traces of them are gone. How can nature be so beautiful and terrifying at the same time?
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-sink-hole-florida-growing020130301,0,2835220.story