VOICETHREAD

My Research

My research project is on the gender based roles in society. Why have female and male been divided and set apart from each other, to be not equal and have different roles that only that sex can do. If the other sex attempts to play their opposite role they are looked at weird or frowned on. Also the fact that males are dominant in society and why is this? My thesis would revolve around those ideas i have not really come up with one that fits all that i need to say in it. I am having trouble with the research, where to plug it in, what exactly i am looking for and how to organize it and put it all together. I want to know what people will find interesting about my topic, what i can relate to them ha anything that will make my paper interesting. My research project will allow people to understand that even in our modern times today we are still faced with the segregation of the sexes. Women are still expected to take care of the children and cook and men are still expected to go to work. Although there has been a very small break through with some men staying home with the children and the women going to work our society sees that as horrifying and it makes the men look weak and are to be treated like women. Why is it that men can not stay home with out question and the women be the provider? People should be more aware of what they are really going through, its why its harder for women to get jobs and men to have better social status. Because everyone has been around these ideas people are so used to the concept and because women have been able to vote and be looked at as equals that settled for that and thought it was enough. Isnt it time to have the title and be treated like equals to?

Timing is Everything

I will be writing about how the media influences children. How they react to it and what messages the media really is sending. Also how the media takes advantage of the children’s innocence and gullibility. The media is such a great source to be able to influence people and keep them aware of things that are happening in the world but instead it is used in a much less helpful way. Today they advertise sex, cancer, and liver failure otherwise known as sex appeal of people, cigarettes and alcohol. You are more likely to see more alcohol advertisements in one mile of a city than more health awareness adds in the whole city. Instead of the media spending so much time and effort advertising products that are a potential threat to your body they should be making the consumer away of the product and if not just that then making the consumer away of other choices that they could be making. It is not only a problem that they are advertising harmful products but who they are advertising it to. For instance companies pay a lot more money to have their product at a kids height on the shelf in the store because everyone knows once a kid wants something these days they get it. They also make the product more colorful and fun. Now adding a little more sugar and a child’s diet will not necessarily hurt them but when the advertisements of cigarettes or alcohol show up as commercials on the children’s television channels or in the magazines, adding nicotine would not be a good idea. Although they are either not old enough to realize it or old enough to buy the products, them just seeing them in their daily lives makes them recognize the products so subliminally when they are older they are more likely to go and buy the product without even knowing it.

"The New Fundamentalism"

Yes I do believe it is fair because it is true. Today’s education system is nothing more than a bunch of contradictions. They do not want religion to be taught in schools but they will allow clubs to form. Not that I have anything against them, I was even in one at one point. When I was in high school they allowed evolution, taught Darwinism and everything in between. Although my religion does not believe in evolution but that God created the world they taught it. To me that is a form of religion because it goes against what I was taught. Now they are apparently trying to get the schools to not teach evolution or Darwinism at all. So this is a very good comparison because not everyone has the same religious beliefs so they cannot teach it in schools and if they do not teach religion they should not teach something that may object to a religion or have to do with origins of life.
As for Easterbrook’s argument, I do agree with it. I believe that people should have options in their lives and that evolution should be taught. People should not be left in the dark and not be able to hear what other possibilities are out there. The fact that the people that we are supposedly getting a “good” education from is trying to shelter the growing minds is flabbergasting. You would think they would want the students to expand their minds so when he made the comparison to god and the biology department he was right on. For example of the “educationists” trying to shelter us when Easterbrook said “Kansas votes, pro-evolution dogma continues to suggest that any alternative to natural selection must be kept quiet”, as if it were some type of secret.

Pollen: Part Two

I am very happy with the Pollen piece. He sticking by his beliefs and how he viewed meat showed to me that although people can prove you wrong in every way you could still stick by what you believe. I liked how he was able to take into consideration the thoughts of others with opposite opinions of his and compare them to his.
Through out his writing was a different form I was not really familiar with. Although he gave his thoughts and opinions on the topic they were somewhat indirect. He used other writings and words to portrait what he had to say instead of saying most things personally. This is something I wish I were more able to do. In his essay he also tells a very direct story on how he tested the waters of another aspect of life. I enjoyed reading how he went about trying to find out why people believe in being a vegetarian or diets like that. Most of all what impressed me how he had the “I love meat” aspect in life and was able to accommodate some of the animal humanity into his diet without giving up meat. For instance how instead of turning his diet to all vegetables he now looks for labels that are more humane in the way they treat their animals. As for me, I still enjoy eating my meat but have come to also realize that I should not be supporting such manufacturers that support animal cruelty and I will now being looking for better labels. It also turns out that those foods are better for your body.

Pollen: Part One

I agree with the statement that J.R made about the piece being very “powerful... example of good argument". I say this only because he is good at arguing. If a person is stating wrong facts they can easily win as long as they know how to argue and manipulate. It is not a matter on whether they are wrong or right but whether they can make the people around them believe what they are saying. Once the people believe they change their way of living to suit they manipulators.
I am a meat eater, I love eating meat and if it were not in my diet I would cease to exist. However I do believe to an extent in animal rights. Making bags, coats, shoes and other unnecessary articles that people use to accessorize with out of animals is inhuman and a waste of that animal. In that way of treating an animal I do agree when he said “But it is another matter entirely to make people appreciate the disturbing moral costs involved… or enjoying the supple textures of leather coats, Gucci purses or Ferragamo shoes.” On the other hand I do not agree when he says, “ animal liberation is the logical next step in the forward march of moral progress…” I do not believe that animals should have the same rights as we do. They cannot communicate with us and we cannot communicate with them. That is why they have not taken the liberty to invite us into their animal kingdom. Yes we are to treat animals with respect and not torture them but they do not belong sitting next to us in a restaurant.

Nguyen Reader Response

Bich Minh Nguyen lived a life of insecurities through which she disabled herself from the world. She came to America as an immigrant from Vietnam with her sister, father and grandmother. They lived in a worn down home until her fathers stepmother rescued them and brought them to the suburbs. While living in the suburbs they went to school where they were commonly made fun of for their race. No matter how hard Nguyen worked she was still ridiculed for her heritage. She lived a hard life that no one should be put through and has to deal with such racism at such a young age. Luckily for me I never had to deal with such trials.
Although this was a fantastic essay that I enjoyed reading I really had nothing in common with Nguyen. I always lived a comfortable life where I was never embarrassed of where I came from. Even though I did not look like my parents because my twin brother (my brother and I are a mix of black, white and Hawaiian) and I are adopted and my parents are as white as marshmallows, it never really bothered me. I was blessed to grow up in time where yes there still is racism but more and more people are learning to accept then to reject other people for how they look.
I have never been the shy girl in the corner, but the loud in your face happy go lucky girl. I have never really gotten extraordinary grades or really tried to. I have had every grade in the book with mostly ending up with B’s. My parents always accepted me for who I was and never really pushed me to be anything else, unless I was not doing to well in a class.
Nguyen did an excellent job on writing this essay, I say this because she was able to keep me interested and feel connected to something I had no idea about. That to me is the best possible writing anyone can ever do.