If this video were showed to all of the American public, it would be considered a shock and awe campaign. I do not believe anybody knew of the facts presented in the video, and Obama's change in stance on the military in the Middle East is astonishing. Once standing on a platform of pulling troops from Iraq and Afghanistan quickly as possible, he has changed his stance to wishing to increase the number of troops in the Middle East.
We have the largest military in the world. We spend the most money on our military. We carry the largest, and most technologically advanced stick in the world, but we do not speak softly. We have bases and troops stationed all around the world to help sustain the image of the United States as a super power. But to what cost? All of the money being spent could be redirected to more beneficial things like better public education. How much money do Americans want our government to use on military spending before we feel safe? I guess the answer is... a lot. And I will be the first to admit that if feels good knowing our country has the potential to keep me safe from virtually any attack from any country. But once again, to what cost. Instead of going to sleep knowing our country has my back, I could be falling asleep knowing Children growing up in the slums are receiving a quality enough education to give them the chance to give themselves a better life. Which one would you prefer?

The movie moved me more than any movie I have ever seen. I think the reason why is because it is so real, and because soldiers are still suffering from posttraumatic stress syndrome and committing suicide when they return home. I do not think there is a way to cure what humans see during war. People were not meant to see that kind of violence and carnage. The military has to train soldiers how to kill a person, it is not a natural act. When a soldier is "tricked"(as the movie put it) into killing a person it is going to seriously mess with them psychologically.
I think the reason the general public is not aware of how many soldiers take their own lives because they cannot cope with what they have done and seen is a mixture of the military not wanting us to know, and us not wanting to know. The military does not want people to know because if the public were aware they would make them out to be horrible for having American heroes go and do something that would psychologically damage them so much. At the same time I am sure the average American would not want to know because we like to think of our soldiers as perfect, and always doing the right thing. We like to think sending them to war to help protect what our country believes in is not messing with them.
The twist the military put on people who do not want to fight because they have nervous breakdowns, anxiety attacks, etc., was just wrong. They want it to seem abnormal to soldiers if they are having psychological breakdowns during or after war when instead they should be putting more effort into helping keep soldiers sane. The military should seriously invest some more time and money into finding ways to have effect, efficient soldiers who are also psychologically secure. Not possible? Well maybe we shouldn't be so eager to send our boys into fight then. Easier said than done, but it is something that should probably be done.

I completely agree. Inequality has to exist. Is it always fair? No. But neither is splitting up the wealth and enabling people to freeload off of other people's hard earned money (something that already happens in this country). Welfare and unemployment checks are not always earned by the people collecting. It is hard working Americans tax money which has the potential to go to people who may just be too lazy to find a job. Of course, there are people who may have been laid off and need money to help support a family.
Let's look at the unfair side of inequality in America now. People born into rich families are more likely to be successful later in life. This was talked about in class. Also, because schools are funded by local taxes, some urban poor areas are going to have a lower quality of education. I feel very strongly about all people, no matter their socioeconomic status, having the right to an equal education. Often times people are given a specific quality of education as a result of the neighborhood they are resident of. This is unfair because the children are affected directly due to the lazy and unmotivated state of their parents. Education is a privilege to the people of the United States and regulating educational expectations is critical to the succession of the country. Although this is important, it is impossible for equality to exist in education or in any other aspect of education for that matter. Politics, religious views, salaries, and socioeconomic status determines each person's level of success both economically and socially. In order to regulate this inequality, a certain selection of the population must be excluded. In any situation, inequality will exist and in order to survive we must try to be the best.
Another area in which inequality exists is within the federal financial support system. Many people are fired from their jobs each year, and do not attempt to find another job as quickly as one would expect. They instead take the money the government offers them with no guilty conscious stopping them.

There is no doubt in my mind organized religion is on the decline. However, the reasons for this is defiantly up for debate. Everyone, regardless of age, wealth, etc., has had a spiritual moment in their life. It is only human to question why we are here, and at one point come to the conclusion there is some greater power involved. This does not mean all humans feel the urge to affiliate themselves with a organized religion. Religion used to be law. It was what people based their morals, laws, and type of government off of. Now, people are drawing away from that, and religion is something which does nothing but takes time away from peoples already busy schedules. Nobody sees the need in following the tradition affiliated with religion anymore. It is only those who were raised to believe you must be a Catholic, or a Methodist, to go to heaven who will stick to their affiliation. Sooner or later though, the children of these religious traditionalist will be criticized growing up for being a part of something outdated and rare. I already see it happening, children of parents who were always hardcore religious not going to mass like they did as children. I believe are social norms and rules are taking over the place of religion as well. Teenagers do not need the fear of being damned to hell for all of eternity to make them behave. Sure, it may help, but people have the capacity to be contributing members of society without the help of fear.
What wouldn't surprise me to see happen is similar religions being grouped together to try and pull in a larger audience. Many religions are so similar already it would not be that difficult to accomplish. If religions did this then people would focus on the more general ideas behind the religion and not worry themselves about the smaller things like not eating meat on Fridays. I also think larger, more profit motivated places of worship will become the future. As depressing of an idea as it is, everything in our country is becoming more profit oriented, and people are already making a profit off of religion.

I have had a very difficult time finding a reason why this man should have no possible way of redeeming himself, and receiving a second chance to become a contributing member of our society. The famous quote “all that evil needs to succeed is for good people to do nothing” sums up this man’s story very well in my opinion. If you agree, then you also agree that he most likely is a “good person.” Is it right for a 14 year old boy to be locked up because he has not learned the lesson that action must be taken at times or you can be considered as responsible as those doing the action? I don’t believe so. I truly believe if many of you were in the same position you would have frozen up as well. Now imagine if you were a frightened 14 year old boy? If a 14 year old boy had the courage, and the moral fiber to stop the murder from happening, I would consider that boy to be a hero. Now because this boy was not a hero, and most of us aren’t, he will waste away in a cell wasting our tax dollars. I do not see the fairness in this. Although I believe in sentencing certain people to life in prison, I do not believe this man (who was a boy at the time) should have been given such a strict and unforgiving sentence. I hope he receives a hand in his favor and receives a second chance.

This is a great example of “invisible” strings changing a society. We may be shaped by our environment, however this is a great example of how humans can change their environment to change their society in a positive way. It brings up the thought on how much control we have over the strings controlling us. Is it possible that someday we will have so much power over all outside forces we actually become our own puppeteers to our strings? I hope not. The invisible strings controlling us, although sometimes negative, are what make us unique, and a world where we can control our outside influences would be a dull one indeed.

Sunlight is a force outside of our control, for the moment, and as the video said, can have an effect on people’s happiness. There is a study which shows people from poorer nations tend to be happier. It makes me ponder whether this is because they have less meaning they have less to stress about, or if it is because countries less off economically tend to be located in warmer climates where there is more sun. Another question this video clip has raised, is if the happiness received from sun can be replaced by doing something else fun. For example, instead of receiving a couple of hours of sunlight, do something else which releases endorphins like work out, or have sex. Is it possible for a person who lives with no sunlight to be happy if they participate in enough activities which give them happiness. Because there is less sunlight in Finland during the winter months, are people more likely to become pleasure seekers? Or is the general consensus to just sit at home and give in to the depression slowly creeping up and developing you like the darkness around a flickering flame. There have been a lot of questions asked in this blog comment today, and this is because they kept coming back and bothering me while writing this. If anyone thinks they have the answers please feel free to reply to my comment.

Freedom is all about the ability to do what you want when you want. It's the lack of outside forces effecting you. But is complete freedom always a good thing? Sometimes control of what others do can help benefit you. The problem is, you can never make everyone happy. There will always be a group of people who believe if you do things their way, things would be better. Do people actually believe less government is better? I hope not. Although they may be correct to an extent, no rules means people could do anything, and many of those things I'm sure would be negative towards you. For example, the government sponsors many programs to discourage people from smoking and drinking. If these programs actually do have the desired effect, they help people stay healthy. If people are healthier, then people pay less for healthcare. Nobody enjoys paying more taxes to help somebody because they are lazy, or pick unhealthy life choices. Eating unhealthy food is one of the choices somebody can make that can make the rest of the people pay more to cover them. Although the government stepping in to control peoples choices on making healthier choices may limit peoples freedom, I believe it is necessary..... to an extent. You can't control people to the point where you are physically saying what they can, and cannot do. You can however lead them to a desired goal.

In this man's poem, he talks about his "candle of hope" almost going out. Do you think that without his belief in God he would still have a flame regardless of how dim it is? I do not believe he would. Whether or not God exists is a debate no one will ever win. However, the debate on whether religion actually helps people cope with life is not a debate at all. The main appeal religion has in my eyes is to give people a reason for existence. People are either born into a religion, or find it because of some eye opening experience during their life. Why would a happy person who was not raised with religious beliefs want to give their time and money to religion? They would have no reason to even consider religion. The man in this story is locked away for life. A punishment almost beyond our comprehension. If religion were not available, what would he see as the purpose of his life? To enjoy it? This is probably not going to happen. To mate and continue the human race? This is also not possible for him. His belief in God has given him the only possible reason to live. It has given him the light of hope in a pitch black situation. He believes that men cannot forgive him. And I am sure that for most people this is true. However people who believe in the readings of the bible must forgive him. So religion not only lets him know a higher power will forgive him, but forces other people to forgive him as well. We all make mistakes, and we all seek forgiveness. Imagine a world where no one would forgive you. The bible teaches people that they must forgive, and with forgiveness comes peace. So now this man is locked away for the rest of his life. Is there a purpose for him? Perhaps his purpose was getting this poem to the eyes of us. For all we know this poem that a man society has found unfit for living freely among us, has made more of a difference to humanity then any of us ever will.

Although I would find it ignorant to say people do not conform as much as they did when videos were still shot in black and white, I would argue that it is common for people to attempt to not conform. Since this is the general trend, not conforming has begin to turn into conforming. Let's look at somebody who people find very unique, a true nonconformist. Lady Gaga stands out for some reason as a classic nonconformist (regardless of some people saying she is simply imitating Madonna). When Lady Gaga was discovered her fans flocked to her because they wanted to be associated with somebody new and bold who did not follow the mainstream roles. Somebody would wear a meat dress and get arrested in Europe for wearing things that were "not considered clothes." The problem is, as more people flocked to jump on the Gaga bandwagon, it became less of a conformist thing to do. New artists saw her success, and knew they had to stick out, and break the rules to become successful themselves. This generation is drawn to the idea of not conforming. Have you ever found a new artist or song you really enjoy that no one has heard yet? It is a great feeling, you feel you have found something that no one else you know has. That is of course until your song hits the radio.... As soon as you hear your song played over and over again and are aware the general public accepts it as popular music, if seems to lose its luster. You feel by continuing to enjoy this song, you are conforming to everybody else. I can guarantee you kids will purposely walk into an elevator facing the wrong way to be different. They will dye their hair odd colors, change the way they dress, and sometimes even do drugs. Although they believe they are being different, they are actually conforming, just like the people in the black and white video did. Although it might not be as blatant as it was in the video. That type of behavior is still happening.

Reading this blog post has sparked an intense internal debate with myself. A part of me realizes this man has obviously learned the lessons the prison system is supposed to teach convicts, and after reading this I am certain he is not just pretending. Another part of me however must remember that he has murdered and needs to be punished accordingly. He stole somebody's life, and he stole that person from the people who loved him. So my internal conflict is whether he should be released and have the chance to live as a functioning member of our society again. Although his well written piece shows he has the ability to comprehend why we do small acts of kindness, even to our enemies, this does not convince me he will not commit violent crimes when he is released. But what is the purpose of his existence while he is locked away in jail? He has no chance of ever getting out, so the only thing he has to do while locked up in jail is think about what he has done to get him in the situation he is in now. If any of us knew were locked up for life we would all begin noticing things we have never noticed before. In a way, being an inmate would turn us all into observant sociologist. You would need to be in order to survive and not get the crap beat out of you. While observing people's behavior to help decide what your course of actions are going to be, you naturally would begin to start wondering what causes people to do the things they do. You may even begin to go as far as we do in class, and go as far as this man did in comparing what people are doing around you to what people are doing around the world. Once that step is reached you could begin wondering what set of circumstances has formed people to make the decision to be passionate towards others in times of great need. Although I have not reached a concrete conclusion with myself, I am leaning towards giving the man a chance to live life through his new eyes.