Commentary

In my classmate Hannah's blog she touches on a number of issues that I strongly agree with and others not as much. The points made are backed up with several references and quotes, so it makes for a very convincing post. I do agree that there is no excuse for the reaction by some people  directed towards Latinos in response to the swine flu. She directs her criticism towards the mass media and shows discernment by ignoring the ranting bloggers. Rightly so she express strong contempt for the media outlets who publish things that are simply immature and unprofessional. Additionally despite their best efforts to cause panic by publicizing it so much, the swine flu (it would seem to the disappointment of some) did not have a mentionable affect in the US. Even though it did originate in Mexico there turned out to be no need for all the racial slurs and innuendos. The only thing I didn't agree with were her comments on Michael Savage, yes he is extremely harsh and radical but I do not think it is right for him to be banned from Britain for things he has said in the US. I do not support Savage or agree with everything he says but I think that some of the ideas behind could be helpful, but more than anything I think he's over the top. Over all I thought it was a fantastic post that was extremely well reasoned and planned out.

Stage 6

After sifting through several of my classmates blogs I came across one written by Tyler Flory, which interestingly enough had no name to the blog. Never the less he touched on a subject. The media I believe is a real issue today that is not unknown but is simply tolerated and left alone. As we learned in class, the media's primary purpose is not to tell us how to think but what to think about. 

The common theme in Tyler's blog is the manipulation of the facts. How and what the news presents can change the opinion of the public. I would not go as far to say that the government controls the media but I do not have a hard time entertaining the idea of that much of the "leaked" information is meant for political purposes and much of the examples Tyler gives may in fact have some truth to them. The bottom line is that we cannot trust or even rely on the information given by the mass media the bits and pieces that may be true are  often of little importance and meant to boost the ratings. I don't think people realize just how narrow the spectrum of topics the news covers and just how many important events occur here in the US and around the world.  

Capitalism’s Fault?

When people encounter problems, the first thing they do is find some one or something to blame. In a recent article by M. Shahid Alam, he voices the reason many people think is the reason for the lower class or the "under privileged" which is the oppression of capitalism. In his article by victimizing people who struggle economially he makes the institution of capitalism and free trade look like the bad guy. It may seem this way but there are a few problems and issues he did not address in his proposals.

Alam claims that capitalism it self, is the sole problem. However, this is not entirely accurate, it would be better stated that capitalism causes, and gives the liberty for the power hungry rich to take advantage of the little guy. Most people will do what ever it takes to get ahead even at the expense of other people. So instead of pointing to one of the affects of capitalism, the root of the problem should be considered which is the corruption of human nature.

Something else that was not considered is the number of people who run these corrupt institutions actually have the power to keep people from advancing. I would venture to say that there are only a hand full of people that Alam describes as the "private capital" sector of the human population. People who make more money than the average American, are almost always considered to have obtained their wealth by running over people and contrivers. Could it be possible that these people actually earned what they have? That they actually worked hard to be in their position? Yes, there is plenty of corruption in these billion dollar institutions but I think its possible that they are out numbered by the people that make above average income and actually earned it.

My Kind of Politics

My political views would qualify as conservative and I am not ashamed to admit that I have strong Christian values. That being said, I still believe in the separation of church and state. Christianity is a world view, it affects how I view the world and how I decide what's right and wrong. If I did not carry over my beliefs into politics, I would not be living consistently with my world view. However, those are my beliefs but if I were to abandon those ideas I strongly believe I would hold many of the same political ideas (however ignorant those ideas may be), simply because I think republicans are a bit more logical and make more sense. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to see a black president even though I don't fully agree with some of his ideas. Still, I am not a strong advocate for either party.

A million, million

I am going to very briefly discuss the recent stimulus bill that has passed based on the comments by Dick Morris. In no way do I pretend to understand fully the details, and these comments are completely my opinion reasoned with little political knowledge I poses. From what I can gather, the government is going to spend nearly a trillion dollars in order to "bail out" people and finical institutions and create new jobs in order to save our economy (I also heard a billion dollars was going to NASA? how is that going to help?). In Morris's article he argues that this bill will not help the economy, but passes the debt on to the government. This idea makes a lot of sense to me for several reasons, where is this money coming from? I'd like to know. 

I think this 800 page bill is being taken to lightly, a few weeks is not long enough to figure out how to spend a trillion dollars. I think the government should hold people and companies accountable for their actions and should do as little and spend as little to help. Again, this just seems to be the logical thing to do in my opinion, I am welcoming comments on different views.