Shutter Island

The movie we watched in class, Shutter Island, started out making us think we were watching a movie that involved solving a mystery. We thought we were following the adventures of the federal marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner as they searched for a missing patient and attempted to uncover the secrets behind the mysterious mental facility island that Teddy suspected were doing bad things.

Toward the end we actually discover that everything we had been following and watching was a lie. We reveal that the whole thing is a set up by his doctors. They invented a role playing game in attempt to get Teddy to accept his reality and be cured. It was his doctor’s last chance to prove that he could be cured and wouldn’t have to be lobotomized.

Although you suspect nothing of it while you are watching it, if you think back or watch the movie again, there are hints the entire time that help reveal the ending. If you watch the guards you can tell that they get a lot more on edge when Teddy comes around because they know he is a highly dangerous patient. In the beginning of the movie when they are out supposed to be looking for the missing patient, all the guards are sitting around on the rocks with no ambition to look, obviously because they have been instructed to play along with this game and are a little less than enthused to over achieve and act it out. One scene that really stuck out to me was when Teddy was conducting the interviews with the nurses. You could tell they all took it as a joke and weren’t happy about being forced to play along and be a part of the experiment. You can see how much Dr. Sheehan (Chuck) pushes the nurses to answer the questions. One of the nurses even makes an ironic joke about how strange their jobs are, obviously pointing at the whole little time wasting game they were getting pulled into. Another thing I noticed was how very obviously coached the patients were when Teddy was trying to interview them about Rachel and Andrew, he even points it out at one point. This is because pretty much the whole island has been informed on the situation and instructed to play along.

In the end we see Teddy now accept his fate as Andrew Laeddis. He accepts that he killed his mentally ill wife for killing his three children. The thing causing him to create his made up scenarios is guilt. His brain can’t accept the immense guilt he feels because he knows it was his drinking problem and absence that caused his wife’s illness and then caused her to kill their children. We see clues to his guilt throughout the film when he sees his wife and a little girl saying “why didn’t you save me?” Later we come to find that little girl is actually his daughter. Guilt is also the thing that kills him at the end of the movie, although he is cured, he cannot live with the burden of his past so he pretends a relapse so they lobotomize him.

Game Theory/ Prisoners Dilemma

Nash Equilibrium- a solution concept of a game in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players.  No player has anything to gain by changing only their own strategy.

Game Theory- one person's gains result in losses for the other participants. Uses the concepts of conflict and cooperation in behavior relations.

Prisoners Dilemma-shows why rational individuals might not cooperate even if it’s in their best interest to do so. Is an example of a game based off the game theory.

When I played the game I don’t know if I completely understood, this game and its rules are extremely confusing. However I noticed that most of the time, the strategy that worked best and gave the biggest payout was cooperating and it also gives the best payoff to your partner. Competing sometimes gives you less payout and you can get in trouble with the Foul Fate if you do it too much.

Example of game theory:

In history- Cuban Missile Crisis

In government- Negotiating with foreign countries or making war decisions

In economics- Compliance contracts between businesses

In sociology- Making a decision like joining the forces that would affect you family and friends

Related to psychology- Whether to make a decision with your gut or your head

In my everyday life- Deciding whether to watch my favorite show on Netflix or studying     

Gary Webb hero or zero?

Was Gary Webb a journalism hero or a zero? Honestly in my opinion he was a hero. He may not have been completely successful or accredited with his work, but when you take on the heads of the Unites States government agencies, who really can win? I think that the fact he had the guts to take the government head on in the first place makes him a hero. He had to be incredibly brave in order to investigate the CIA and challenge their involvement with the guerrilla army in Nicaragua and America's crack-cocaine epidemic. He wrote the articles regardless of all the criticism he was going to have to face from the American public let alone having to fear the loss of his job and reputation of the company he worked for. His own newspaper company that he worked for was not even completely supportive of his work and even admitted that he was getting out of line, Webb ended up resigning and writing a book t defend his articles. Soon newspapers wouldn’t print his letters because they were worried about their own reputations. Major newspapers tried to silence him by questioning his credibility and personal and professional character but he kept going anyway because he believed in justice and truth for the American people like any good journalist/reporter should do. After all, the job of the press is to inform the American people.

I don’t thing Gary Webb had a chance from the beginning, and I think he knew that too, but for him that wasn’t the point. He wanted to shed light on a major issue that had been being overlooked and bring it to the American people’s attention and maybe in the process inspire other journalists to do the same. Fight for what they believe in and give people the truth, and that’s exactly what he did. After Webb’s articles came out and the federal investigations had been announced, several other newspapers starting doing their own investigations and writing articles including many big papers like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. Gary Webb challenged one of the most powerful agencies of the United States government, completely knowing the depth and extremities of their power, knowing they could ruin him or make him disappear like it was nothing, but he did it anyway, and if that doesn’t make him a hero, I don’t  know what does.

JFK

In my opinion, the nation lost its innocence long before the assassination of President Kennedy. I think that it was just the first time the Americans realized it because they were just too innocent minded and blind to it before. I feel that leaders of our government and military have been controlling things behind a curtain since the beginning of time. The assassination of Kennedy hurt the American people. It filled citizens with fear and guilt even though it was not their fault. Their visions for peace and understanding had been taken away from them along with their beloved leader. The nation had such a bright future with President Kennedy that without him the future of our nation seemed doomed. People began rioting to end the Vietnam War and with all the chaos and assassination of great people working for peace, the United States is viewed as out of control by the rest of the world. What was once viewed as a great nation that was desirable to live in was now unrecognizable. The American dream was never to be the government’s puppets. People no longer felt safe in their home country and were extremely skeptic of the people they had once trusted to run this country and keep them safe.

I think that 9/11 was extremely like JFK’s assassination. I think that it was just another plot planned by the government to instill Americans with fear in attempt to keep us in control. I don’t think that the Americans blamed themselves for 9/11 like they did for Kennedy being killed because the people held responsible weren’t citizens of the United States like Oswald. The blame was put on members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. If you think about it there are pretty much conspiracy theories for every devastating event that happens in the United States that point some pretty serious fingers at the government. The government gets away with it of course because they always have someone to pin it on. Our government will never get caught or admit guilt because it’s just too hard to prove. There are too many cover-ups and lies and tracks that are impossible to trace. The government has their ways of maintaining balance in the country and they think that it’s not wrong what they are doing because they convince themselves it’s in the best interest of the people and the country.

I don’t believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was Kennedy’s killer. I believe that he was completely set up by our government from the beginning. There is too much evidence pointing away from him for it to even be possible. I think that Kennedy was killed because he wanted to stop the war. The war is such a large industry that it would have been huge to put an end to it. There’s proof that it was more than one gunman who was responsible so it doesn’t make sense how the Warren commission could blame Lee Harvey Oswald as a lone gunman. There are a million different theories about who killed him, tons of different groups even from different governments, but I think that our own government is to blame. Oswald was just an easy target to pin the whole thing on. I also think they had Ruby set up to kill Oswald and then they killed Ruby off so there’s no tracks left after they’re both gone. Their hands are cleaned and the American people have their peace of mind having someone to blame.

I don’t think it was a coincidence at all that Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were also assassinated. All three men shared the similar goal of not becoming too deeply involved in the Vietnam War and for it they were killed. They were all promoters of peace that rallied the American people. Their beliefs and goals were so similar and they affected such a wide audience it’s no wonder the government had to take all of them down.  Robert running for presidency was a huge threat to the government and elite because of his determination to reopen his brother’s death and end the Vietnam War. He was threatened to drop out of the race or he would be killed but he didn’t because he didn’t think the government could get away with two Kennedy’s, but clearly he was wrong. King also received threats and kept speaking otherwise and he too was killed for it. I also didn’t think the government would do it because it brings so much more suspicion after all of the conspiracy theories about the first assassination, it makes it pretty obvious. But then again, maybe that was their goal, the fear, if people could see how much power they really have, enough to kill the most important men in the nation, what else they could be capable of doing to us average citizens.  Our nation was founded of freedom and trust but now runs on fear and power.

 

Flat Taxation

Although I come from a household with a single mother who sometimes struggles to make ends meet and I understand that some people do not have the ability to pay things that other people can, I still agree with a flat tax rate. I realize that say a 15% tax, doesn’t mean nearly as much to a millionaire as it does to a much poorer person, but I don’t think that that is grounds for making them pay more. I know some people think that the rich should pay more just because they make more but that really doesn’t make sense to me. People should not be punished for being successful. A lot of wealthy people are our biggest business owners and therefor our biggest employers. If we tax them more, it will affect their business and could cause them to cut hours or layoff people, then increasing our unemployment; it’s an ugly cycle that would just keep going. Another thing people don’t consider is that those who have more money tend to spend more money. Rich people have more money to spend on new things, a lot of times, expensive things. By them spending that money they are putting it back into our economy. When the economy does well, things become cheaper, benefiting everyone. If there was a flat tax nobody could complain about paying more because everyone pays in the same percentage of what they make. Having a flat tax would just be so much simpler, like in the article it said “Advocates say that, with a flat tax, most people could figure their annual taxes on a simple postcard.” It also claims that flat tax would do away with a lot of loopholes, exemptions, and deductions that make our system we have now so complicated. Flat taxation is far taxation.

 

“Our art is a reflection of our reality.”

When O’Shea Jackson Jr. states in the film “Our art is a reflection of our reality.” in reply to the group being accused of promoting violence, it’s a knife to the heart for every viewer.  The film ‘Straight Outta Compton’ did an amazing job accurately portraying the lives that the members of the NWA actually faced living in Compton, CA. The story is of the five young men trying to make better lives for themselves while going through many frustrating experiences that are just a part of living in the city of Compton, while they change hip-hop history forever.  Some viewers may watch this movie and think some of the scenes are violent and over-done, but that’s because the truth that this movie reveals almost too cruel to be true. White viewers especially will be more skeptical because we are so negligent of our own white privilege.

            Things like gangs stopping school busses and pointing guns at the heads of students, doors on crack-houses getting broke down, people killing each other over drugs, and police man handling and harassing black young men for absolutely no reason, was a part of their daily lives. They weren’t safe to walk down their own neighborhood streets. The drug business was almost impossible to avoid getting into. Drugs are the main source of money generation for neighborhoods like that. These things weren’t something the movie producers dreamt up on  a story board and emphasized to put a stress on how life in the ghetto really is or how unfairly white police officers treated the people there. These were real experiences. People actually lived like that and even still do today. The film also did an incredible job recreating scenes of the LA riots in where over 50 people died and over 2,000 were injured. It created visions of destruction and horror; burning cars and buildings, shattered windows, people being beaten and killed, and rioters picketing and yelling.  I don’t think the goal of the film was to gain sympathy for the mistreated black people living there but more to shed light on the reality of the neighborhood and the strenuous but amazing journey the group had to go through to get where they ended up.

            In the movie, Ice cube refers to their ‘art’ to the group of skeptical people in a conference room. Rap is not something most people would consider art, however in the film what they are referring to as ‘their art’ is their music, rap. Art is a form of creation and self-expression, art is both. We consider music art, rap is music. We consider poetry art, rap is poetry. If rap is a combination of the two then how can’t it be art? Painters paint portraits of people and scenes that they’ve seen, dream of, or love. Musicians write songs about experiences they’ve gone through, ways they feel, and things they do. Rap is no different. For them their lyrics are the truth, they are their reality. In the mid 1980’s when rap started to come out, they would set their lyrics to music and it would become known as ‘reality raps.’ Although some of their lyrics may be considered brutal or aggressive, they’re the truth, the upright honest truth. A lot of their lyrics and even song titles talk about women, guns, cars, drugs, police, gangs, and other things that played a large role in their lives. They rap about experiences in their personal lives too. They rap about family struggles, community dangers, career tribulations, things that actually happened to them. Even when the group began to separate they wrote songs about the anger and betrayal they felt with each other.  Their songs were an outlet for them, a way to express how angry they were with the lives they had to live. One of their most popular songs called “F the police” expresses their deep hatred for the police system. They wrote the song out of anger for their years of unjust treatment that continued even after they became famous. The song became a protest song against police brutality and racial profiling.

            The group faced a lot of criticism because of their music. Audiences were skeptical and afraid of their lyrics; a lot even deemed them inappropriate. Their explicit lyrics were hated for disrespecting women and police and glorifying drugs, alcohol and crime, but that’s all they knew. That was their reality. The first serious controversy was over their song “F the police.” An FBI assistant director sent the group a letter expressing his disapproval of the songs. The justice system felt that it encouraged violence against police and would cause confrontations.

            The film also includes many historical elements that really add to the impact the film makes on the audience. The film was set to take place during the Rodney King Trials which was a crucial point in history for the mistreatment of black people and fight against white privilege. The film illustrated the mayhem and destruction that broke out in all of the neighborhoods at the time. The film also included the AIDS epidemic going on at the time. The film turns heart-warming when a beloved member of the group Eazy-E played by learns he is very sick from contracting HIV.

            This film really makes audience reflect on past and present social issues. White privilege is still a thing. The movie is so in depth and emotional the audience feels that they are taking a step into the reality of the members of the NWA and others living in Compton. After watching this movie you feel like you just sat down to watch a two and a half hour documentary. Now after watching this film and getting an insight to their reality, when I look at their song lyrics I see them in an entirely different light. They’re not offensive or explicit, they’re the truth and the result of a broken society, but most importantly, they’re art.

           

Poverty and Students Sucess

In all four of the graphs comparing fourth grade and eight grade math and reading scores there is a direct relationship between the students grades and whether or not they receive free or reduces lunches. You could conclude by looking at the graphs that the poverty of the family of the student directly affects the student’s ability to learn and succeed in school. Eligibility for the free or reduced lunch program is based on the family’s income.

The lack of success of the student could be based off a couple different factors. The student may feel that just because they come from a lower class family that they are automatically doomed. They feel that no matter what they can’t change their future and make better lives for themselves than their parents provided for them. Another reason may be that the student may be hungry. For a lot of poor families, the meals that their children receive at school may be the largest or even only meal that that child receives all day. I definitely do not work well when I am hungry. Its proven that kids who eat breakfast often do better in school, we need food to provide us with energy throughout the day.