Week Sixteen Blog Entry: Shift Happens

After watching the video “Shift Happens,” it made me worried about the world’s future. The first main reason that I am worried is the rate that the world’s population is increasing. The numbers are getting so large in some countries that I don’t know how it will be possible for us to have enough resources to sustain everyone. The second main reason that I am worried is that I feel like technology is developing so fast that it will get out of our hands at some point. The video talked about a super computer that will exceed the knowledge of a human being, and eventually exceed the knowledge of the human race. If it gets to this point, how will we be in control of the technology that we make?

The video also talked about how fast information is developing. It said that the information a college student learns in their first year will be outdated by their third year of college. I think that this puts a big burden on the educational system and that changes need to be made to keep up with the changes. I believe that our country needs to put more money towards education. There are simply not enough resources for teachers and they are not being paid enough. I think that if there was more money put towards education, we might have a chance at keeping on top of the changes.

I think that there are some ways in which information processing and availability are improving our lives today, and some ways in which they are detracting from our lives. For example, advances in healthcare are helping to save lives in ways that never would have been done before. The internet is enabling people to become more informed citizens by reading the news and searching information. Online dating is even helping people meets their husbands and wives when they might have been too shy previously! However, I think that there are some reasons in which this is not a good thing. Instead of talking on the phone and listening to other people’s voices, people are increasingly choosing to text message. I think that this takes away the personal aspect of connections between people. I also think that googling information can lead to lazy habits when researching information. Overall, I think that the world is going through many changes and we will have to find ways to keep up with them.

Week Fifteen Blog Entry: Suburban Life

For the majority of my life, I have lived in Woodbridge, Virginia, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C.  I have seen suburbanization happening first hand. Throughout the 20 years that I have lived here, a large number of people have started migrating to suburban areas, such as Woodbridge. The great increase in population has brought about changes in the area. One issue that the book brought up is that there are environmental challenges. The influx of people means that there has to be much more housing for people to live in. There also needs to be more stores than there were before. This has resulted in the destruction of many wooded areas. Many of the places that were full of trees when I was a child have now been cut down and built into shopping centers. Another challenge brought about by the influx of people is that there are not enough jobs to accommodate everyone. As a recent college graduate, I have experienced first hand how hard it is to get a job in the area. There are so many people who are qualified to do jobs that it increases the competition. The only way to deal with this problem is for more businesses to come to the area, but then that just further exacerbates the problem of overcrowding. It will be interesting to see how these problems are dealt with in the future.

Week Fourteen Blog Entry: Who Has The Power?

In this week’s reading, we read about different theories as to who wields power in our government today. There were three different theories discussed. The first is democracy elitism, which says that political leaders hold the power because they have expertise in the matter and it is impractical to have a direct democracy in a large-scale society. The second theory, known as pluralist theories, says that interests groups hold the power in our society because the government bargains with these groups in order to achieve a balance among competing interests. The third theory, the power elite, says that a small network of individuals, usually white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, holds concentrated power.

At first glance, I was inclined to say that I believe the power elite theory is correct. However, in light of the recent election, I do not believe this theory is correct anymore. The people who fit the “power elite” classification were mostly supporters of Mitt Romney. After Obama was reelected for a second term, I think it shows that this group was not holding the most power. For example, Protestants would not typically support abortion being legal. However, the nation voted for a president that will keep it legal.

That being said, I think that the best explanation for who holds political power in today’s government is the pluralist theory. Before and after the recent election, there was a great deal of news about how different interest groups felt towards social issues that were important in the election. For example, Planned Parenthood is one group that was very influential because they are providing monetary support for many women in our nation. However, many religious organizations disagree with Planned Parenthood because of the money that is spent on abortion and birth control. I think that the balance among these competing interest groups influences government policies.

Week Thirteen Blog Entry: Is Walmart Good For America?

After watching this documentary, I do not think that Walmart is good for America. One reason for this is that Walmart is forcing smaller grocery stores and convenience stores to close. The prices are so low at Walmart that these other stores cannot compete against it, so they eventually go out of business. This is slowly leading to Walmart monopolizing the industry. This is also having a negative effect on the employees that work at the smaller businesses. The hourly wage that they made at the now closed stores is almost double what they would be paid to work at Walmart. A second reason that Walmart is not good for America is that it encourages production in other countries, such as China, rather than in America. The documentary talked about how China is selling their goods to America at a lower cost than it actually takes to make them. This then means that American production companies cannot compete with the Chinese ones because there is no way to make their prices that low. When one company filed a lawsuit against a Chinese company for doing this, Walmart actually supported the Chinese company instead of supporting the American business. A third reason that I believe Walmart is not good for America is the lack of ethics in the way that they conduct their business. Some of the entrepreneurs interviewed talked about the process that Walmart goes through when they decide which vendor to buy from. They bring a representative from each company into a room, and have them reverse auction to see who can offer the lowest price. This causes a great deal of stress to the representatives and is only done so that the Walmart Corporation can make more money. After everything I have learned about Walmart, I do not believe it is good for America.

Week Twelve Blog Entry: Domestic Division of Labor

When filling out the chart on who does what tasks in our household, I was not very surprised to find out that results.  My mom has always been in charge of the daily tasks in our household. She does the cleaning around the house, such as vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms. My dad has always been in charge of the housework duties, such as shoveling snow and mowing the lawn. In those regards, they both hold traditional roles as were outlined by the textbook. However, my parents have worked hard so that they share some of the more burdensome roles in our house. Making dinner is a chore that both of my parents do. My mom is in charge of making dinner about 4 nights a week, while my dad will make dinner about 3 nights a week. They also split this duty in the sense that the person who did not make dinner has to wash the dishes that night. Another particularly stressful task that both of my parents share is monitoring the family’s finances and paying bills. It used to be my mom that was more in charge of this, but my dad has recently taken on more of a responsibility with this so that all the stress does not fall on my mom. I think that they have set a very good example for me growing up. They have broken some of the traditional family roles and shown me that a marriage can be more of a partnership.

Week Eleven Blog Entry: Role of Religion in Our Government

I do not think that religion should have any role in government today. When our country was founded, it was on the principle that there should be separation of church and state. Directly following the Bill of Rights, there was a disestablishment of religion in the US. However, I believe that our government has become increasingly religious since this time. I think that it is very important to keep separation of church and state in our country. One reason this is so important is because it allows us to practice whatever religions we believe in. If there was a large role of religion in the government, then members of government might be biased against some citizens who believed differently to them. Separation of church and state allows everyone to have their own beliefs and not fear the effects that this will have on their daily lives.  A second reason that this is so important is because I believe that religion should not have an effect on the policies of the government. One problem that we have today is the ongoing debate as to what forms of birth control and abortion should be legal. This is an ethical issue, but legislators are making decisions on the matter based on teachings of their religion. I do not think that this is the way that our country’s decisions should be made.

Week Ten Blog Entry: Racism and the Internment of Japanese Americans

While learning about the internment of Japanese Americans during this week’s lesson, I was very surprised to find out how little I know about this subject. I remember learning about World War II in school and the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, but I really cannot remember being taught much about the discrimination against those of Japanese descent in American. I’m sure that part of this is due to my horrible memory, but I also think that part of the blame can be put on the American school system and what they decide is going to be taught in the curriculum. They put so much emphasis on teaching us about the Civil Rights movement in America, but I don’t think that there was enough emphasis put on the Internment of Japanese Americans.  To me, this shows a certain level of embarrassment and unwillingness to admit that we made a mistake as a nation. As I learned with Rwanda, the US has a history of knowing what we did wrong but not actually being able to say the simple words “I’m sorry.”

It is so sad to think of what all these Japanese Americans had to go through at the time, solely based on their race. The part that amazes me the most is that 2/3 of those people who were put into the camps were American citizens. I am an immigrant from England, and I only received my American citizenship about 10 years ago. I can’t begin to imagine what it would feel like if the country that I am a citizen of suddenly decided that I deserved to be imprisoned because I am from a different country. Learning about this issue just gives me a whole new level of respect for those American citizens of Japanese descent who had to overcome prejudice and discrimination for years.