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.

Social Structure and Class Structure

1. What is the function of social class structure?
   • Separation of social class
2. What conflict naturally exists between social class structures?
   • The oppressors control the oppressed and it’s difficult to change your social status
3. What symbols do we associate with the various social class structures in our society?
   • Climbing the ladder, food, champagne
4. How would you change the social class structure?
   • Make it more equal

1. What is the difference between ascribed and achieved status as discussed in this video?
   • Your ascribed status is what you are born with and your achieved status are all of the things you can achieve
2. For each of the following class distinctions, give examples from the video that define each class. Then remark if those characteristics are still true for 2013.
   a. Upper Class- better paying jobs, bigger houses, more educated
   b.  Middle Class- steady paying job, pretty well educated
   c.  Lower Class-not very good paying jobs, less educated

-All of these are pretty relevant to the classes today, they probably always will be as long as the class system exists, and most people never venture too far from the class they were born into.

Hillary Clinton E-mail Scandal

            While serving as secretary of state Hillary Clinton was caught using a private server to send emails instead of her government email. For the four years she was secretary of state, Clinton never used an official state.gov email address. Instead, she relied on a private email account on her own personal server. It went unnoticed, until this last summer. Clintons excuse was that she didn’t want to carry around two smartphones, which is interesting because earlier that year she said she lugs around a BlackBerry, an iPhone, an iPad, and an iPad Mini in her purse all the time. When she was asked to turn the emails over, she deleted 31830 emails that she didn’t feel were relevant and selectively picked over the ones to turn in. Investigators said they searched a small sample of 40 emails and found four that contained government secrets. Many politicians are demanding her to immediately turn over her email account. They are viewing her as a threat to our national security. It is said that there were emails on her account exchanged between her and foreign leaders and government officials outside the State Department. Her private emailing probably would still be continuing if it wasn’t for a house committee investigating Clinton’s involvement in the Benghazi attack.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/us/politics/hillary-clinton-email-classified-information-inspector-general-intelligence-community.html?_r=0

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/20/hillary_clinton_email_scandal_explained.html

White Ghetto

What does the average coal miner make (wages per hour)?

$25 an hour

Who are some types of people a person might find in the big, “White Ghetto.”

-Very poor families

-old drunk men

-under educated people

- people with a love of scenery

Why do you think the author calls it the “Big White Ghetto.”

It is extremely comparable to the “ghettos” we see in larger cities except its almost all white people who live there

What does the author suggests “keeps the underclass in place?”

Welfare

The author suggests that “poverty is the natural condition ____  _______  ________ _______.”

Of the human animal

How does Pepsi play into this?

They are aware of what people are doing with their products, but they let it happen.

List five things/facts you took away from this article.

1. The unemployment rate in Owsley county is extremely high
2. People in the area are extremely dependent of welfare
3. Most of the people who receive benefits are misusing them
4. People who live there are poor and drunk
5. Living there you will likely die sooner because of health and nutrition factors

NRA - White Privlige - Mass Shootings

I feel that the statement: “Because white people will someday be the minority in the United States, we can expect white privileges to decline, increased gun control laws, and powerful groups like the NRA to lose their influence in the political theatre”  is very true. As of right now white people are the majority in the United States. However, studies show that in the next few decades that is supposed to change. The minorities will soon become the majority, and we may live to see it. Numbers for groups like African Americans, Hispanics, and American Muslims are on the rise. With whites becoming the minority we can also expect their privileges to diminish as well. As far as gun control laws, they are inevitable. Minorities are the biggest supporters of increased gun control laws, so it’s only common sense to assume with their growing populations that stricter gun laws will be set in place. In fact, some minority groups feel that gun control is more important than gun rights. It is safe to assume that the NRA will go down with white privileges. The most common supporters of the NRA are white, older, males. The younger generation of white males is already leaning toward gun control. So when white people become the minority and the majority of their supporters pass away from old age, the NRA will have very few supporters and drastically lose their influence in the political world.

    What exactly is white privilege, and what does it mean? White privileges are considered a set of advantages that benefit only white people. They are given to people simply for being born white, they do not have to be earned. Having white privileges means: that when you are stopped by a police officer, you can have assurance that it isn’t just because of your race, it means that you can move into a new neighborhood with peace of mind that your neighbors will treat you neutral or warmly, it means that when you apply to college, for a bank loan, a new job, or a new apartment you know if you get turned down it wasn’t because of the color of your skin. You can walk around in public alone without the fear of being followed or harassed. As a white person all of these things seem so normal to me and I would never consider worrying about them, and that is the problem. Most people with white privileges don’t even realize they have them. They take advantage of them every day not realizing they are causing a disadvantage to other racial groups.

            Who are mass shooters likely to be and why? Mass shooters are most often white males. If 97 percent if school shooters are male and 79 percent white, then why do black men make up the majority of our prison population? The white men who commit these shooting are not often who you would think. They are not the less educated, out casted, poor or unfortunate men of society who feel they have been cheated or mistreated. They are more often than not, privileged beyond being white. The problem starts at the very beginning. White males are raised to believe that they are powerful and entitled. They believe they should be welcomed wherever they go because everywhere belongs to them. They believe that their pride triumphs all and should never be caught acting like “sissys.” Men of wealthy families have the strongest sense of being pompous.  They believe that they were born with the world in their hands. They think that their voices should triumph all others and be heard by people of most importance. It is their arrogance that is essentially their source of anger. They feel that their problems are the worlds’ problems. That is why when they feel hurt they want to inflict it upon everyone else. When they feel disrespected or that their importance is being ignored they get angry and react with rage and violence. When angry middle-class whites gather together in political groups such as the NRA they claim their purpose is to “take back our country.” What they actually mean by that is they want to take back their privileges that they feel are bestowed upon them just for being born in this country because they can sense they’re slowly losing them.

            What is the NRA all about? Well, the NRA stands for the National Rifle Association, and by definition the NRA is an American social welfare program that promotes gun rights. It argues against all forms of gun control and believes that more guns make the country safer. Their beliefs and purpose rely solely on the 2^nd Amendment. The NRA spends about $250 million per year, about $3 million of which goes to influence lawmakers on gun policy. The NRA openly grades members of Congress on a scale from A to F based on where they stand on gun rights. Those ratings can have a significant impact on poll numbers and occasionally even cost pro-gun control candidates their seats. Their membership ranges from 3-5 million people. Over the course of its existence the NRA has had some prestigious members giving it excellent publicity and political influence. Some of the members include: President George HW Bush, Charlton Heston, Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin, Chuck Norris, Miranda Lambert, Whoopi Goldberg, and Michael Moore. Famous members such as these people are essential to the existence and spread of popularity of the NRA.

           The death of the NRA and the rise of minorities go hand in hand, in the hand of politicians that is. Politician’s methods evolve around pleasing the people. The more people they please, the more votes they get. With minorities on the rise and their support for increased gun control, politicians have no choice but to conform if they want to win. I do not believe the NRA will go down without a fight of course, but ultimately the cards are not in their favor for much longer. The NRA will go down with white privileges.

Freddie Grey

Did Freddie Grey let himself down or did society and government let him down? I think that the blame for Freddie Greys fatal death cannot be solely placed upon the government or society. Freddy Grey was an American so he was entitled to just as many rights as everyone else. Freddie was also an adult, so he was completely responsible for his own actions. Even after he had his fair share of run-ins with the police and suspensions from school as a kid, he continued to make a name for himself with the police.  He committed a series of crimes as an adult and even had pending charges when he died. If Freddie would have made better decisions the police wouldn’t know him by name or automatically suspect him as being guilty for something.

Society also played a large role in Freddie’s fate. Because of the judgmental society that we live in, everyone thought that Grey was doomed from the start. In the area that he grew up in, kids were not successful, in fact, most did not even graduate from high school. If society makes Freddie believe that he is nothing and won’t become anything, why shouldn’t he believe it? I

 do feel however, that the government also played a large role in Freddie’s death. The government would receive statistics on the school Freddie attended showing little success, and did nothing about it. They could have intervened sooner and set up AP courses or other programs to boost student productivity. They could have helped the teaching situation too, the teachers at that school were undedicated and frequently absent, and most were young and inexperienced, it is not fair to the kids. I also think that throughout his life Freddie’s judgment was fogged by the disabilities he faced because of his lead amount. The level of lead in the kids in Freddie’s neighborhood is unhealthy and more than preventable by the government. The amount of lead in Freddie’s body at the time of his death is absurd.  The government programs set in place to remove lead paint exposure are nowhere near as proactive as they need to be to eliminate this problem.

Deviance Article

Dr. John Hall is a dentist in North Carolina who was accused of injecting semen into his patient’s mouths. He used his own semen and would say “I’m going to put something in your mouth that’s going to taste funny, but it will stop the bleeding.” He did this to many of his female patients before two of his employees began to get suspicious. They overheard a patient refusing to let the doctor put the substance in her mouth because she claimed it smelt like sperm. They began to investigate and collected a few of his syringes. They had the syringes DNA tested and the results came back showing traces of sperm in the substance. One of his patients even claimed that hall once approached her while she was lying down in the dentist chair and began to rub against her lower body in a sexual manner.

After pleading guilty to all of the charges brought against him, Dr. Hall spent four months in jail and even had his license in dentistry revoked. After he was released from jail Hall moved to the foreign country of Belize. He was found by an ad that he had put into a local newspaper looking for an assistant and by several ads announcing his opening of a new clinic. The editor of the newspaper quickly became suspicious of Hall and started investigating his past. He collected articles and files of his past deviant behavior and brought them to the police department.

Hall was arrested but posted bail and published a 1,400 word manifesto claiming his innocence. Hall is scheduled for court Feb. 12^th in San Pedro.