What is Racism?

If you go out onto the street, and ask strangers what racism means they can spit out a cookie cutter answer that will appease most people. But what does racism really mean? Is racism just the absolute hatred of another race?  Or is it something that is practiced everyday in our cities and on our streets? The answer is both. Racism is defined as the hatred for and against another race, but it is also something that is practiced everyday, by everyone. Even if we don't necessarily mean to. There was a blog post made by the D&C about racism and all that it entails. And in this blog post they have made several key and important points about the racism that we have today and whether or not it is racist or if it is considered to be normal. They bring up these important points. 

Is it racist for a restaurant wait staff to let a Latino couple who arrive early for the dinner rush wait until everybody else has been served?
I do believe that it is wrong and racist for a wait staff to let a Latino couple, who purposefully arrive early wait until everyone is seated and served. Just because the couples skin tone is different from others around them I feel like that shouldn't be the reason that they were made to wait. I could see if they arrived late and it was extremely busy, but since they arrived before the dinner rush I don't see a legitimate reason as to why they would have to wait, that to be is an example of racism. 

Is it racist for a white man to forbid African-American nurses from holding his newborn baby?'

I find this scenario extremely racist. Just because the nurse has a different skin tone than the husband/father doesn't mean that the nurse is going to give the new born baby some kind of incurable disease. This example is a racist attitude that has gone back since the liberation of the slaves after the civil war.

Is it racist for a white prospective police officer to be passed over in favor of an African-American because the city is trying to diversify its police force?

In this scenario I don't feel that this is racist. If both officers have the same qualifications and are both up to have the job, then I feel that there should be more diversity in the force. If there is more diversity in the force then there will be less of a chance of racism. And if they make it more diverse they are ensuring that racism is less and less likely. 

Is it racist for a person (of any color) to tell race-based jokes? (Is it worse if it's a white man telling the joke? Is it less of a problem it it's a black man?)

This example is iffy for me. Of course any race-based joke is horrible and shouldn't be told, but on the other hand, they get told and sadly it is an everyday occurrence. But it seems to be that the race-based jokes are deemed more racist when they are uttered out of the mouth of a white people, I don't know if it is because whites seemed to dominate others more, or if it is because it just seems less racist when coming from the mouth of the person for is the same ethnic background as the joke. Race-based jokes seem to go over better when said by a person of the same background, rather than a person of a different back ground. 

Is it racist for anyone, regardless of color, to use the "n"word. 

I personally think that it is racist to use to "n" word no matter what. But as society generally sees it, it could go both ways. If a white man says the "n" word then a whole issue comes up about racism and everything gets blown up, while you travel in some neighborhoods and the "n" word seems. to be, in a way, a term of endearment, or a greeting.    

Many people have different opinions about these questions. And you know what? That's OK, because we are human and humans naturally have differences of opinions, that what makes us human. My opinions might not be the same as yours, and we might not see eye to eye on everything but I decided to share 

them anyways. 

Holocaust and the Ten Commandments

Holocaust Timeline

1933

March 22- The first concentration camp, Dachau, located near Munich, Germany.

April 1- The Jewish shops and business were boycotted, per the request of the Nazis.  

May 10- Books were burned in Berlin and throughout Germany that were written by Jewish authors or anyone who didn’t support the Nazis.

July 14- Nazi became the only legal political party in Germany.

July- anyone with genetic defects was forced to be sterilized.  

September- October- Laws were passed to start limiting Jews and the rights that they had.

1934

January 24- Jews were banned on the German Labor Front.

May 17, Jews were denied national health insurance.

August 2- The German president dies and Hitler becomes Fuhrer.

1935

September 15- Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews was declared.

1936

March 7- Nazis get to occupy the Rhineland.

August 1- The persecution of the Jews were refrained due to the Olympic games.

1937

January- Jews were banned from practicing many different professions.

November 8- Anti-Jewish exhibits were open to increase the propaganda against them.

1938

July 23- Any Jew over the age of 15 had to apply for an identity card from the police, to be shown on demand from any police officer.

August 11- Nazis destroy the synagogue in Nuremberg.

August 17- Men had to add the name Israel and the women had to add Sarah, to all legal documents they had.

November 9, 10- Kristallnacht

1939

September 1- Nazis invade Poland

September 3- Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.

1940

February 12- The very first deportation of German Jews into Poland

1941

March 7- German Jews were forced into labor.

1943

January 18- First resistance by Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto        

1944

June 6- D-Day

1945

April 30- Americans free 33,000 inmates from the concentration camps

Many terms used during the time of the Holocaust.

-Antisemitism

      ·The hatred of Jews

  

-Concentration Camp

      ·A place where political prisoners were held, also any one that society saw as unfit. The Nazi party especially put this into practice.  

       

-Deportation

      ·Expelling a person from their homes/native land. This is when the Jews were forced out of their homes and into concentration camps.    

     

-Genocide

      ·The deliberate killing of a large group of people, usually from one specific ethnic group.

         

-Ghetto

      ·Part of the city where minorities live, usually a slum.

-Holocaust

      · Destruction or slaughter on a mass scale. This happens to the Jews during WW2 

-Kristallnacht

. Night of the broken glass, this is the night(s) that Jewish synagogues, homes, and businesses were burned to the ground or destroyed.

The Holocaust was a horrible even that has taken place in history. Many evils took place the people that have participated in the Holocaust have broken many commandments that were given to us by God and therefore have sinned. The people that participated in the Holocaust have broken the 6^th, 8^th, and 9^th commandments that were given to us by God.    

6^th Commandment: You shall not murder. People relentlessly killed Jews because they saw them as an inferior race.

8^th Commandment: You shall not steal. The Nazi party ripped away people’s homes, business, and places of worship, their basic human rights, and their lives. They stole everything away from them.

9^th Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The people that have known these people that were getting sent away to concentration camps turned the cheek and pretended not to see what was happening. 

My views on topics related to the 5th Commandment

    The fifth commandment covers many controversial topics. The church often makes its views on the subject pubic in forms of interviews and what not. But just because the church feels one way on that certain subject doesn’t mean we are forced to believe in the same thing. I personally don’t believe everything that the church says is wrong, is actually wrong. For example the topics, such as, assisted suicide, in-vitro fertilization, and capital punishment, I don’t necessarily believe is wrong, but the church teaches differently. 


    Assisted suicide can have many different right or wrong views, depending on the type of person you are and what you believe in. I personally believe that people that have incurable diseases or are suffering horribly and they have no chance of ever surviving and they, themselves, want to put an end to the pain and suffering then I believe that it is their choice to end their life prematurely. Having lived through grandparents that can't walk, don't remember your name, and all around suffering terribly and there's nothing that I could do, the feeling that you get is horrible. All you want to do is help them any way that you can. I believe that my family would go along with their decision with the assisted suicide, if one of the grandparents have had decided to go along that path. 


    In-vitro fertilization has been an option for couples around the world that can't get pregnant for many years now. I have very strong feelings for this subject, since my aunt has gone through it a number of times. The church teaches that in-vitro takes away what is meant to only be between a husband and wife (which is a totally different topic that I'm not going to get into). But I feel for people like my aunt that has gone through the pain of not being able to have kids, who also is very religious, have to church think that because they can't have kids means that they should just give up all together. If your desperate to have kids and have been trying for years to have them and just can't, then go ahead and have the procedure done. And then there our some people that are lucky and get a miracle baby like my aunt. It always seems that the most deserving people and the ones that should have kids the most don't get them, while people like octomom shouldn't be allowed to have kids. 


    Capital punishment also seems a likely candidate for the church to reject. But in truth the church doesn't condemn it as long as it is the last resort to keeping the public and society safe. I don't believe in this way of thinking. I believe that if you go around murdering dozens of people, you have some serious problems and you should get what karma has coming for you, which is exactly what you gave out, murder. I agree with the church that it shouldn't be used whenever people feel like using it but it should be reserved for the special kind of people in the society that shouldn't even have the right to pick up the trash on the side of the road. But altogether as a whole I think that the death penalty should be reinstated for the people that commit the crimes that hurt society the most.  



      

Trayvon Martin Case: The public reaction

        Most people are just hearing about the Trayvon Martin case. Everyone is getting involved, for example Will Smith and President Obama, just to name a few. Most of the truly dedicated to helping bring awareness to the case participate in the Hoodie March. Thousands have participated so far in the Hoodie March. Yet there are still some people that think Trayvon got what he deserved, (not true), or that it was all fake and it was just a Skittle commercial. I know what you're thinking but some people are just dumb enough to think that national news was just a ploy. Why would they think that it's just a made up story to sell Skittles. 
       President Obama was stated that if he had a son that he would have looked like Trayvon Martin and that it could have potentially have been his son that was shot done for wearing a hoodie. Many people have criticized Obama for saying that but it's true. Will Smith also stated that we live in America were the girl who throw flour on Kim Kardashin was arrested on the spot and the man who killed Trayvon is still walking around free.  I personally want to see George Zimmerman go to jail and stay there for a very very very long time. 


       There are also the people that are saying it was the hoodie itself that caused Trayvon's death. Clothing has nothing to do with it. Hoodies don't cause murder like mini skirts don't cause rape. People that are on the side of George Zimmerman are trying to make up as many excuses that are possible to get him to look innocent. 

        Like it or not every person is effected by Trayvon Martin. Whether they knew him personally, if they think that he was the one in the wrong, if they are one of the many that went out on marches and protests to rise awareness, every person knows about this case. There are also some people that are saying that, that could be the next Trayvon. Because of the stereotype no one is truly safe from the people like George Zimmerman. 

Trayvon Martin

                 Trayvon Martin. Most have heard of that name before. But in case you’re like me who doesn't really listen to the news that much, Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old teenager that was walking back to the condo he was staying at, coming from the store after buying an ice tea and a bag of Skittles for his younger brother.  That’s when George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon for being “suspicious”, and walking in the rain looking around, apparently that accounts for something being suspicious. Zimmerman later stated when police arrived on the scene that he shot Trayvon out of self defense. Why did Zimmerman need to use self defense? He is a 28 year old 250 pound grown adult with a gun going against a 17 year old 140 pound unarmed kid. Zimmerman could have easily won that fight if he really had to.

                 Trayvon did not have a criminal record but Zimmerman was charged with resitting arrest with assault and battery in 2005 but the charges were later dropped. The neighbors went on to say that Zimmerman is fixated on crime and tends to target young black males. And has called the cops on suspicious behavior 46 times since January 1, 2011. One neighbor told the public that one of the police officers "corrected" her when she said that she heard the young teen shout for help, by saying that it was in fact Zimmerman was the one who was screaming for help right before he shot Trayvon. Which is completely not what the witness heard. This is the same officer that initially failed to arrest a lieutenant's son who was videotaped attacking a homeless black man.  

                Before the 911 audio tape came out Zimmerman’s father went on the record saying that he never confronted the victim. But that was later proved wrong when the tape came out and Zimmerman was documented saying that he was following Martin and that he did get out of his car and continue to follow him even after he was told not too by the 911 operator. In the 911 recordings you can hear Trayvon yelling for help as Zimmerman chased him. If you’re in the neighborhood watch and someone is running away from you yelling help, usually they are not the ones that are causing the problems. If Trayvon had a weapon I’m 100% he would have pulled it out and used it on Zimmerman because I’m sure that Trayvon felt that his life had been threatened, why else would he had been yelling for help.

                As of right now Zimmerman has not been charged with a crime, police say that there is not enough evidence to charge Zimmerman with the murder of Trayvon Martin.   

The end to the "R Word"

                The “R-word”, most have used it and openly admit that they use it, while others know that it’s wrong but they still use it and hide the fact that they do in fact use it. I will not be one of those people living in denial. I admit that I have been known to say the “R word” and I know that it’s wrong but I never really grasped the concept that they understand what it means and that it hurts their feelings when they hear people saying derogatory things that were once used to define them, but are now being used to insult others. It has always been a bad habit of mine to use that word and not think of who I’m affecting around me.

                 I have always had the mindset that mentally disabled people don’t get what’s going on and get in the way a lot. Like they are good at just certain things and nothing else. Was I wrong or what! This past weekend I was working on my service hours for school and there also volunteering was a person who has adopted 3 mentally disabled kids.  At first I didn’t notice (because I tend to be slow at those types of things,) but when I did at first I was freaking out. Why do they have knives? Are you sure that they can handle that? And so on. And the answer to all those questions is yes. They can do whatever we can do, and in some cases they can do it better.  Those hours spent there were some of the best ones I have spent in a long time. They were so care free and happy and always laughing. Not “stupid”, “slow”, or anything in between that we tend to associate them with.

                And with volunteering there with them I had to make sure that I wouldn’t slip up and accidentally say something derogatory. There’s also the issue of having the habit of throwing it around in public because for most it is a horrible habit. You never know who is out there. Maybe someone is mentally disabled or someone is related or close friends with a mentally disabled person. The offense slur hurts more than just the people you’re directing the “joke” to; it can hurt a lot of other people.

                After spending those hours with them I can now truly see what mentally disabled people are actually like. They are not stupid or slow and they do deserve to be out in public just like everyone else. I am now truly starting to see what the “R Word” actually does to people and I want to do my best to help end it. 

My Teacher won’t let me Swear on the Internet

            Swearing, a controversial topic. Most people would say that it’s their 1^st Amendment right, freedom of speech. Yet our teacher won’t let us swear on the internet.

            Swearing is either looked at from the view point of, only uneducated and dimwitted people swear to the view point of, everyone does it, its part of our everyday language.  And I can see why our teacher won’t let us swear on the internet that he is personally connected to. It’s a “learning” tool that we get to use because of our computer use and we are a Catholic School.

            To me swearing is something that only seems right in certain situations. If its use is completely unnecessary in the conversation then I could see why its use would be looked down upon. But if something dramatic happens and the result is complete catastrophe then I could see the use of swearing in moderation, at least.

            I guess that my teachers request for us to not swear on the internet sites that he is connected to seems only fair. Since he is connected to it might seem like this class is a joke and it’s a free for all. Which is not the case what so ever. I’m sure that this is not so much to ask in terms of just not swearing around him and just on your own separate accounts.  

Human Trafficking

            This year the month of January has been declared by President Barack Obama as “anti-trafficking month.”  This is the reaction of the fact that there are about 14,500 to 17,500 people being trafficked only in the U.S. annually, that’s not taking into account all the others that are enslaved around the world. Unfortunately slavery didn’t end with the Emancipation Proclamation, the slave holders and recruiters got sneaky and started to go underground with the trafficking. Of the three major international crimes committed, illegal drugs, arms trafficking, and human trafficking, human trafficking alone generates about $15.5 billion and that contributes to the $32 billion that all three generate annually.

            When post people think of slaves they think are people that slaveholders have captured from Africa and that are forced to work in plantations or be servants to the owner and or his family. But the uniformed definition of slavery or human trafficking is forced labor, bonded labor.  CNN determines if it slavery if one person has complete control and ownership of another person or people.

            While most children and adults here in America love to eat chocolate, most don’t wonder where it comes from or who even makes it, all they care about is if it tastes good and how much we can get our hands one. But most 2^nd and 3^rd world countries are forcing children to pick cocoa beans and make them into chocolate. They continue doing this even though it is stated and “enforced” that there is no child labor that goes into the process of making chocolate but you should still check the label to make sure it has the fair trade label. Most of those child slaves never eaten a bar of chocolate, some don’t even know what the word means.

            Chattel Slavery is when the slaves are treated as personal property. This was slavery in the first most basic form. But when they go across borders into different states or countries then it transforms into human trafficking, especially if they are expected to do sexual services for money for the owners.

            I think that the most important facts are that Slaves work in ­fields, brothels, homes, mines, restaurants—anywhere slave owners can feed their greed, they aren’t just forced to work on plantations like they were before. 27 million slaves are in the world today, which you would figure would be less considering that slavery is supposedly ended in the word. The majority of slaves can be found in India and in African countries, this is to be expected since they are considered to be more 2^nd and 3^rd world countries where people aren’t given the basic rights like education and basic human rights.  

10 Resolutions For the World

- Go Greener 
- End unnecessary wars
- Make greater steps on helping and preventing homelessness
- Fight to end childhood hunger
- Work on ending the recession and growing the economy
- Try to elect mature Representatives that can run our country efficiently 
- Fight racial discrimination
- Decrease the unemployment rate
- More communication instead of more violence
- Find a cure for cancer and all the worlds incurable diseases

Invisible Children

                Tuesday November 8^th, 2011 was a day that deeply disturbed me. It was the second time in my high school career that the organization Invisible Children came to present their cause. 

                Invisible Children was founded by 3 guys that decided that they wanted to go to Africa on a film-making adventure. When they got there, they couldn’t believe what they saw. They saw thousands of kids going from their village into a city where they would all sleep in abandoned buildings, in order to protect themselves from a rebel army called the Lord’s Resistance Army, or the LRA. This was been the result of the LRA going in and kidnapping children from their village and forcing them to fight as child soldiers. According to the estimates of the Invisible children the LRA army is mainly child soldiers, about 90%. This is the result of dwindling amounts of people that support the LRA’s cause.  

                The LRA was first the Holy Spirit movement but was then changed to the Lord’s Resistance Army after the leader, Joseph Kony came to power. Because of their horrible acts on humanity the LRA was declared a terrorist group in 2001. Then in 2003 when the three young filmmakers made their way into Northern Uganda is where the Invisible Children first got rolling. During their stay in Africa the guys made a rough cut of what everyday life was like in Northern Uganda. They met every memorable people during their stay. When they got back to the states they edited the video and made it into a D.V.D. for people to buy and they hoped would get more people aware of the Africa’s longest war. 

                Joseph Kony first started out with a strong army and was trying to over throw the Ugandan president. When the presidents army was started to either capture them or threaten them until they went against Kony. As more people started to leave out of fear, he started to abduct innocent children. In this past year there was 146 civilians killed with 523 abductions. This adds to the total count of 963 deaths and 1,810 abductions. The child soldiers aren’t Kony’s only victims. After the LRA goes into a village they abduct the children and kill most of their families. They are forced as young children, as young as 9, if not younger to fight as child soldiers. If they didn’t want to fight, tough, they were either killed or they were eventually broken into doing the unmentionable acts. Kony figured that if you get them while their young you can eventually get them to do whatever he says and that they would be purely loyal only to him.

                After a while the D.V.D. gained popularity and more and more people got wind of what was happening in the war. I personally first heard of Invisible Children through a music video of a band that I, at that time currently loved, but I was younger and it didn’t really faze me what it was about until some representatives from Invisible Children came to my school.

                They gained so much popularity that they eventually got President Obama to send over 100 advisory troops to capture Joseph Kony. He is currently the most wanted war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court.

                This cause is a very important to me. The first time they came I cried my eyes out when they had a person that has lived through it and that has lost family and friends to the hands of Joseph Kony and the LRA. We need to come together and put a stop to all of Joseph Kony’s destruction. 

Citations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAgbZdrWiN4&ob=av3e

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/

http://kabiza.com/WhoIsJosephKony.htm

A Bully Church?!?!?

                The Westboro Baptist Church is a church, which in my opinion the next Jim Jones incident. They are people that run on the hurt that they cause people. They go around and protest at gay and military funerals. They say that the soldiers are turkey’s not heroes. “They are lazy, incompetent idiots looking for jobs because they’re not qualified for honest work.”  That is a bunch of garbage. They go through a whole lot of training to become a soldier, besides they are the ones that go out to a foreign country to protect us as Americans, from countries that want to attack or control us.  They try to pass off their extreme ideas on that their trying to save the world. “It’s the world’s last hope.”  Most people strongly dislike the ways of the Westboro Church. On the website it states that their members lose 0 nanoseconds of sleep over the opinions and feelings of others. I have no idea on how they are able in good conscience to do that. I would never do that. I have too many moral standards to do those things that those “people” do. What those people do is very immoral.

                They blame the Christians for God’s hatred towards everyone. They blame other religions like Christianity and Islam for example for the scorn of God.  They say that us Christians told lies that God loves all of us and the Jesus died for all of us. They preach that God loves no one. He hates “fags”   and military people.  If God loves no one then he doesn't love them. Also God said that we’re all made in his image. Then those people are in his image. Wait! They don’t believe in everything that the Bible says. Really. God gave us the Bible so we can know how to live and what to follow by.

                By protesting at funerals and putting people down they are basically taking away their human dignity. They believe that they are doing charity to the people that they protest against.

                For one I believe it’s wrong to protest against the soldier’s funeral or the fact that they put people down.  They are part of the reason why so many young people are choosing to end their own life. Because a church is bullying them, aren’t they supposed to be helpful and support full? 

Citations:

http://www.godhatesfags.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UMP3AK5jwo

Cyber Bullying

                Bullying is a major problem in today’s society. Teens feel much more open and free to do it, since the creation of the internet. Cyber bullying allows the bully to bully, in some cases without ever seeing the person. With the invention of social media like, Face Book and MySpace, it’s giving the bullying a whole new platform to work with. Instead of being face to face with only so many people to hear, it’s now out on the whole internet where everyone, can see it. There was a bullying case a while back that had a mother bully a student and that student thought it was a girl from school. With the internet, no one has to be exactly who they are. They can be whatever age, gender, or race that they want to be. No one at the time would know who exactly that person is. Cyber bullying can contain many forms. In one article it lists the forms that it can take, how to survive it, and one survivor’s story. (Link is below)

                In generations past when kids were bullied, they were just tormented at school, when they got home it was like their safe haven. Now since the creation of the internet, social media, cell phones, etc. the bullying doesn’t stop just because their home. It’s now a 24-7 problem that is costing lives by the minute. Face Book was meant to bring people together, not tear them apart. Right now there is so much cyber bullying going on that Face Book is just fueling the fire to this seemingly never ending problem. Cyber bullying can contain many forms. In one article it lists the forms that it can take, how to survive it, and one survivor’s story. (Link is below) Does anyone even know why kids bully each other, how about why they cyber bully.  This website (link is below) addresses what some of the reasons are, how you should deal with it, and how to gain awareness on this issue.

Links:

http://kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/bullying/cyberbullying.html     

http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/why_do_kids_cyberbully_each_other.html

Bullying

Delaney Escher age 16

Jim Harold Jr. age 12

Elise Groth age 12

These are the years that these three students were bullied or when the bullying actually started.

Hateful texts, voicemails end after visit to school psychologist

            "He said, 'If you're going to therapy, and you've never been in therapy before and this situation is putting you in therapy, then there's something wrong,'" said Delaney. Only then did Delaney Escher get enough confidence to stand up and start reporting the bulling even though it didn’t stop right away at first. She admits that even though it’s been two years she still get “death glares” from some of the same students.

It wasn't fear that kept bullied teen from talking

                         “Their new school counselor suggested that they take their son to get a few mental health tests. It was a suggestion that they'd never been given by their son's doctor or his old school district. "And within less than five minutes of the conversation, when (the mental health professional) sat there with me and Jimmy, he said, 'Do you realize your son has Asperger's?'" said Jim Harold Sr., 49. "We were like 'What?'" Since Jim Harold Jr. was diagnosed the bullying has stopped and has found a new social circle. Jim accounts that his younger years and bully years are a blur and fuzzy when it comes to the bullying acts.

Bullying leaves tormented students, helpless parents

                        "I kept on telling her, 'Don't let me ride the bus. I don't want to get on the bus. Please, don't make me get on the bus,'" This is 12 year old Elise Groth’s account on what her “normal” day at school was like. 

            Jamey Rodemeyer, you might not know the name, but he too was a victim of bullying. He went to a high school in Buffalo New York. His body was found on September 18, 2011 after he committed suicide. Jamey’s been bullied since the fifth grade. He was tormented on his sexuality. A couple of days before the suicide he hinted that he was going to see a recently deceased family member. If that wasn’t a cry for help, what is? This unnecessary death could have been prevented. One of Jamey’s idols was Lady Gaga. His finally tweet was to Lady Gaga thanking her for everything she has done for him. She in turn is fighting for the law that makes bullying illegal. Even in his death the bullies are still saying that he’s better off dead, which is so not true. Police are looking into criminal charges for those bullies.

            Jamey makes You Tube videos about everything. One of them was entitled It Gets Better, I Promise. And it does get better. The band Rise Against has a song called Make It Stop (September’s Children) is about all the kids that are bullied and have taken their own life

***Warning depicts thoughts of suicide***

            People have a lot to say about bullying and suicide. I personally think that bullies are just too insecure to deal with their own issues so they take it out on other people. Hannah A. says “There should be a law against bullying.” Ryan M. states “Bullying is bad and mean.” Linzey Z. says “Bullying is bad, because everyone gets hurt, and we should all care for each other, not hurt one another.” Mr. Miller, the dean at BK says that “Bullying is mean, don’t do it.”  

 

 It's something that doesn't have  to be, yet its still around. 

           

Citations: 

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110925/NEWS01/109250359/Hateful-texts-voicemails-end-after-visit-school-psychologist

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110925/NEWS01/109250357/It-wasn-t-fear-kept-bullied-teen-from-talking

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110925/NEWS01/109250354/Bullying-leaves-tormented-students-helpless-parents?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP4clbHc4Xg

Research on aborted fetal tissue must be banned.

I strongly disagree on this topic. There is in my opinion no reason why it can't be done. It's not like it's promoting  abortion. The women aren't getting paid for it. There is still a lot of information out in the world that we don't know about in terms of fetus' and what not. No matter what the circumstance that got that fetus aborted, it's still aborted. People can't decide what they can and can not do since they decided for whatever reason that they can't have that baby. There is so much research opportunity with aborted fetal tissue, that might give them answers about pregnancy that we haven't learned before. The fetus after it was aborted had no life to live, this way at least it is contributing to science and potentially helping future generations. It is in no way doing anything wrong, so why should it be banned.    

People dumb enough to leaved their lockers open can't complain about thefts

It's common sense really, if you don't want your stuff stolen put a lock on it. I believe that coveting is born into us  to some degree when we are born. Yes not everyone goes out and steals,but lets be honest, who hasn't gone I really want that and I can't have it. In a perfect world we could trust everyone and no one would have to worry about their stuff disappearing. But this is not a perfect world, and people steal. But it is also that owners responsibility to make sure that the locker is locked up tight. That is what the invention of the lock was for. It's designed to keep personal possessions safe from the hands of thieves. The school supplies the lock, that right there says that there is a possibility that theft could happen. If that person would have just put the lock on the locker then their belongings would still be there when they got back. The lock that the school supplies is meant to prevent, but it can't do that if its not on the correct way,or not on at all. In a way the school  shouldn't have to hear it because of the persons lack of responsibility that landed them in that situation in the first place,but the school should also try to get that students belongings back. All in all students that leave their lockers open can't complain about theft.