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Privilege by Wendy Montgomery

admin — Thu, 16 May 2019 17:00:42 +0000

“I am part of the problem.” Learning the truth of that statement has been a humbling and daunting journey. I used to think I was a good person, living a good life, raising good children. I didn’t realize my life path and choices were self-centered and arrogant. I didn’t know I was deeply hurting my own son. I didn’t know he was different than my other children. I didn’t know he was gay. I didn’t know. But the thing is, it didn’t matter that I didn’t know. That’s a lousy excuse. I was still causing harm to a lot of people I cared about. I was blind to my own privilege; and it almost cost me my son’s life. Seeing my own straight privilege has opened me up to so many other areas where I am privileged as well. Since realizing my own culpability in many of society’s deeply rooted problems, I’ve done all I could to listen, learn, know better, and do better. I see so much of my privilege clearly now. It is my goal to use my privilege to elevate the voices of the marginalized, oppressed, and discriminated against.

White Privilege

In my admittedly limited experience, I find that people fall into one of two camps when it comes to their white privilege and how they’re “not racist.” They say that racism either doesn’t exist or is so much better than it used to be, so we should just stop making a big deal about it. Or they say they don’t see color; that everyone is equal and skin color doesn’t matter to them. Research suggests that it is ineffective to try to make different ethnicities and races the same as the privileged group. In fact, this color-evasion can promote interracial tension and can even further the power differential and feelings of inequality. Color-Blind Racial Ideology (CBRI) is sometimes seen as a modern form of racism and a way of legitimizing the racial status quo. (Neville 2013). Research also suggests that there exists a relationship between CBRI and increased racial prejudice, anger and fear. Racial color-blindness seems to be a modern expression of racism. It provides the framework for ignoring that racism is still happening. Even though a Black American has been elected president twice, we have seen an increase in anti-Black prejudice. The conclusion of this research states, “Treating different people differently and celebrating their cultural uniqueness appears to be a more equitable way to achieve social justice than attempting to adopt a color-blind stance.” (Neville 2013). White people do not know or understand how it feels to be black. We can never know their experience firsthand; the best we can do is listen to them and try to find a way to validate and amplify their voices. With our white privilege, we can practice allyship to the communities of color in a way that feels heard and respected for them. In another paper addressing the issues of being an ally in the battle for social justice, it says, “The kind of conversations members of a community have reflects and shapes the values and culture of that community. By changing the conversation to one deliberately focused on equity, leaders change the culture.” (McDermott 2017). There is no scope or sequence to equity work. Different contexts and situations call for different responses. But it is of utmost importance that when conversations around race and culture are being had, the demographics we are speaking about are equally, if not more so, represented in that conversation. As privileged white people, we do not get to take stories that don’t belong to us and tell them without permission and/or consultation. It doesn’t matter if you have the best of intentions and a good heart. There are important lessons about the blind spots we have when we experience a lifetime of white privilege that we will face as we work to build cultural understanding and equity. (McDermott 2017).

Male Privilege

Special status and privileges are given to men in patriarchal societies. “The long-standing and unquestioned nature of such patriarchal systems, reinforced over generations, tends to make privilege invisible to holders; it can lead males who benefit from such privilege to ascribe their special status to their own individual merits and achievements, rather than unearned advantages.” (Wikipedia 2019). Privilege isn’t a result of purposeful effort or conspiracy to oppress and demean women; although the inherent perks and privileges that men get from this systemic bias put females at a distinct disadvantage. There are countless ways this dynamic can be seen in society. In public school systems, almost always the books you will read are written by men, usually white men. The school curriculum is essentially telling us that men are the best writers. “When books written by men dominate the school curriculum, men are nearly always the lead in stories and women are only portrayed through the male gaze.” (Rivero 2017). Assertive women and girls with a strong leadership style are called, bossy, controlling or bitchy. Men exhibiting the same behavior are applauded and listened to. Women are always underrepresented in positions of authority and power. The few women in those positions are often attacked for emulating the same leadership qualities that their male counterparts are praised for. Current examples of this are Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. When getting married, women are expected to change their name and take their husband’s last name, as an archaic way of showing the world the man has claim on you or owns you. The same is never expected of a man. Women’s sexuality is policed even before she hits puberty. Modesty culture, guilt and supposed “purity/virginity” is used to control women’s sexual agency. Men are called players for their sexual prowess; a woman is called a slut for the same behavior. (Rivero 2017). Male privilege can be seen everywhere. It is the absence of obstacles and discrimination that only women face. It is so ubiquitous in society that it is often explained away as “just the way things are.”

Heterosexual (Straight) Privilege

Heterosexual (straight) privilege gives unearned and unopposed advantages to straight people solely because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This type of privilege can take many forms. A straight couple can show affection in public without fear of harassment or violence. A straight person doesn’t face rejection from their family due to their gender identity or sexual orientation. A straight couple receives support and validation from their religious community, whereas a gay couple rarely does. A straight person is rarely denied housing, employment or other services because of their “straightness.” Straight people aren’t taken to a therapist to be “cured” of their heterosexual natures. They have automatic recognition as “next of kin” in emergencies; gay couples often do not. (UOC 2019). The concept of “religious freedom” is often used in religious and conservative circles to justify the discrimination of LGBTQ+ people. The pastor of a Southern California megachurch believes that LGBTQ+ discrimination should be condoned in the name of “diversity of opinion.” Controversy surrounding this issue raises questions about what it means to be religious and/or Christian in our country today; and is it allowed to take others’ rights away based on moral grounds? (Hiltzik 2014). Religion is both contained in and reacts to the current sociocultural norms and expectations of the time. Feeling the need to choose between the child you love and the God you love is a very real scenario for many religious families with gay and/or trans children. A study on what happens when a child comes out as LGBTQ to his/her Mormon parents goes into more detail on this phenomenon. “In addition to Mormons, other politically conservative religious groups are also correlated to increased heterosexism.” (Neilson 2017). The Mormon church is also explicitly clear on their definition of God-ordained marriage only being between a man and a woman. This leaves very little room for a gay child to fit into their Mormon family, especially when they think God also feels that way about them. Suicidal ideation as well as attempts and completed suicides are frighteningly high in the Mormon church for these reasons. We take away LGBTQ people’s hope for a happy life and fulfilling family relationships. But the study found that “self-esteem among SGM (sexual & gender minorities) is positively correlated to a supportive parental relationship.” (Nielson 2017). Like many other religions, in the Mormon faith, spirituality and relationships are inseparably linked. So many parents really do have to choose between their God and their child; because religion often weaponizes God. I know from firsthand experience that it is an agonizing choice. We chose our child. I’ve never regretted it once, although it has been a painful road.

Male privilege and straight privilege often intersect. Religiosity strongly dictates gender roles as well as what type of romantic relationships are acceptable and unacceptable. To fully understand reactions to lesbians and gay men, one should also consider how women are treated in that country. Research has found that countries that have the highest levels of gender equality also have the most positive attitudes toward gay men and women, as well as the strongest legislative protections for the LGBTQ+ community. “Anyone fighting for social and legal change for lesbians and gay men in a country should be aware of the importance of fighting for change for women, too.” (Henry 2017).

What to Do Once You See Your Privilege

Some people were born into identities and circumstances that afford them real, impactful advantages in society. But often, talking about privilege can make a person feel defensive or like they’re being called out. They may not know what to do about their privilege because they didn’t know they had it in the first place. We all have some type of privilege and we need to know how to leverage it to give voice to those who have less. An ally is someone who can leverage their privilege effectively. They ask the right questions – of themselves and other people. They do more listening and learning than talking. They challenge people and systems that don’t respect and celebrate other people’s differences and identities. (Belden 2017). Studies have also shown that being an ally to an underrepresented and less privileged community can make you feel more fulfilled and happier. “The participants in this study perceived that their ally identity provided them with knowledge and awareness, satisfying interpersonal relationships and community belonging, and a sense of meaning and purpose as they actively contributed to social change. Allies who are engaged in intentional efforts to change society in positive ways found these efforts to be positive and fulfilling parts of their lives.” (Rostosky 2015). In the event that helping another person and standing up for the underdog isn’t reason enough to do the right thing, scientific studies have shown that it just might make you feel good inside.

Conclusion

I can no longer be silent. I have spent a long time being on the wrong side of many issues, unknowingly wearing blinders. But now I see the myriad ways people I love are marginalized, hurt and outcast. In talking about issues related to women, people of color and/or the LGBTQ+ community, we should recognize that this encompasses a large segment of the population. Equal rights, laws, protections, and freedom from discrimination should be a focus for ALL of us because we all know people who fall outside of white / straight / cisgender / male privilege. People we love are being affected. I want to live in a country where everyone has an equal voice and a place at the table where decisions are made. Too often it seems like those in power and with the highest levels of privilege won’t willingly give it up. They’d rather build a higher wall than a longer table. There is so much that can be learned from those different from us. I have experienced this first hand. Until we can find a way to do this, I don’t know how we heal the wounds of our beloved family and friends; and the wounds of our country. Start by recognizing that like me, you are part of the problem. From there, listen to those who can tell you what it’s like to be them. Stay humble and curious. Then leverage your privilege to amplify their voice.

Works Cited

Belden, C. “#StayWoke… Live Inclusively: Leveraging Privilege.” The Inclusion Solution. 07 July 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2019, from http://www.theinclusionsolution.me/staywoke-live-inclusively-leveraging-privilege/

Henry, P., & Wetherell, G. “Countries with Greater Gender Equality Have More Positive Attitudes and Laws Concerning Lesbians and Gay Men.” Sex Roles. 2017. 77(7–8), 523–532. https://doi-org.ez1.maricopa.edu/10.1007/s11199-017-0744-0

Hiltzik, M. “Discriminating on ‘Moral’ Grounds.” Los Angeles Times. 23 Jul. 2014. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ez1.maricopa.edu/docview/1547440167?accountid=3859

“Male Privilege.” Wikipedia. 20 April 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_privilege

McDermott, V. “Becoming an Ally in the Battle for Social Justice: A former superintendent describes what she has learned about white privilege as she pursues educational equity and promotes cultural understanding.” School Administrator, 74(10), 46+. Nov. 2017. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.ez1.maricopa.edu/apps/doc/A528711019/AONE?u=mcc_chandler&sid=AONE&xid=f6ad1318

Neville, H. A., Awad, G. H., Brooks, J. E., Flores, M. P., & Bluemel, J. “Color-Blind Racial Ideology.” American Psychologist. 2013. 68(6), 455–466. https://doi-org.ez1.maricopa.edu/10.1037/a0033282

Nielson, E. “When A Child Comes Out in the Latter-Days: An exploratory case study of Mormon parents.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 2017. 20(3), 260–276. https://doi-org.ez1.maricopa.edu/10.1080/13674676.2017.1350942

“Recognizing Heterosexual Privilege.” University of Calgary. (n.d.). Retrieved 22 April 2019, from https://www.ucalgary.ca/positivespace/node/38

Rivero, A. “5 Everyday Examples of Male Privilege.” Affinity Magazine. 25 Sept. 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2019, from http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/09/25/5-everyday-examples-of-male-privilege/

Rostosky, Sharon S., et al. “Positive Aspects of Being a Heterosexual Ally to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, vol. 85, no. 4, July 2015, pp. 331–338. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/ort0000056.

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A New Space Race By Brett Downey

admin — Thu, 16 May 2019 16:56:22 +0000

Space Travel has been the realm of fiction for most of human history with plays, books, radio shows and movies written about the possibility of space travel. In the late 1950’s science fiction became science reality with the first humans going into space. Countries like the USSR and the United States became involved in a space race to see which country could reach the moon first. The driving force behind this was the desire of the nations to demonstrate technological superiority and engender national pride. In the early 2000’s several companies were created to commercial space travel – now decades on we have a new space race – between private industries. This competition will benefit humanity much like the space race of the 1960’s did.

In 1903, French film maker named Georges Melies created the film “A Voyage to the Moon” where several people go to the moon in what was probably one of the first science fiction films (Méliès, 1903). Sixty-six years later that early science fiction film was turned into reality with the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20^th, 1969. The moon landing was the result of a space race between the geopolitical foes – USSR and America – that sought to demonstrate technological superiority. While governments in the 1950’s accelerated space technology with massive amounts of funding private research had been ongoing in the decades before the 1950’s. As early as the 1927 rocket enthusiasts such as Werhner von Braun was a member of the “Society of Spaceship Travel” with many innovations from the society being incorporated into the Apollo program he lead decades later (Evans, 2016).

The space race began in earnest in 1957 with the Soviet launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into space at sufficient speed and altitude to remain in orbit (Komerath, 2012). In 1958 the United States created a new department that was tasked with advancing America’s space program in direct response to the USSR apparent technological superiority – this new department was called NASA. In next several years the USSR continued to demonstrate more advanced technology in space with the launch of the first man into the space and a soft landing on the moon which left America lagging three years after NASA’s founding. In 1961 President Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s. This was an ambitious and bold plan that would require many new technologies to be invented and refined to achieve this goal (Komerath, 2012). The USSR also had a similar goal to put man on the moon before the Americans; the key driver of such ambitious goals for both nations was a desire to demonstrate technological innovation and engender nationalistic pride by doing something no other nation had done before.

The space programs in both USSR and America were the brain child of two men; in America Werhner von Braun and in the USSR it was Sergei Korolev. Despite the fact both were competing against each other they had the same vision of humanity becoming an Intersolar system species. Both men were born at a time when rocket science and aerospace engineering were considered largely theoretical subjects that were best debated in university lectures halls. They believed that the future was amongst the stars and committed most of their lives to making space travel a reality. Korolev did not live to see the moon landing and von Braun died a few years after the moon landing. If they were alive today both would be disappointed in the trajectory that humanity has taken in terms of space technology.

By 1972 American interest in the moon landing had faded and new projects were the focus of NASA that would attempt to make space travel cheaper and more accessible. The USSR continued to try to reach the moon but with American success in 1969 the will of its political leaders to achieve second place waned resulting in the program being officially shut down in 1974. For the next 30 years the Russians and Americans were satisfied with low earth orbits as our only option for space travel. In 2011 the Americans ended the space shuttle program which meant America could no longer send people into space. This put America back into the same position it found itself in the late 1950’s because only the Russians could send men into space.

The space race of the 1960’s petered out by the 1970’s because the political will had vanished, but the benefits continued to be reaped for the next several decades. The space race of the 60’s directly led to advancements in solar power, water purification, miniaturization of medical devices and the global position systems. The global position system (GPS) has initially developed by the American military to facilitate land navigation but it was also licensed for commercial application. The in the decades since the European and Russian space agencies have added their own satellites to the GPS system so now there is a global network that covers the entire Earth. Without this system autonomous driving vehicles, weather forecasting, and early warnings of hazardous weather would not be possible (Komerath, 2012).

. The space race of the 1960’s was also an inspiration for many to enter into STEM fields in hope of contributing in some small part to the space race. A study done by NASA found that students achieving technical degrees peaked in 1968 due to the Apollo programs high visibility and dramatic achievements. Years later another study in 2009 found that one in two scientists publishing in the journal Nature were inspired by the Apollo program 40 years earlier to study science (NASA, 2013). NASA continues to advocate for space exploration because it will continue to be an essential driver for opening new domains of science and technology (NASA, 2013).

Budgeting constraints in the decades since the 1960’s have forced government organizations to rely on low cost missions such as sending robots to explore distant planets. Ongoing exploration has resulted in some new scientific such as the discovery of water ice on multiple planets, discovery of exo planets and robotic missions to many planets lacked the inspiration of seeing a human figure walking on the lunar surface. With such inspirations being gone there has been a noticeable decline in technology education achievement in America over the last forty years. Since the 1970’s the technology of the humanities ability to explore space has been on a downward trend with less and less ability every few years.

There is hope with a new generation of space pioneers like Korolev and Braun from the 1960’s that seek to challenge the status quo in the 2000’s. The most prominent of these visionaries is the Elon Musk and his company SpaceX which has the stated goal of creating the first human settlement on Mars. To achieve this goal SpaceX has sought to commercialize space travel with by reducing the cost of launching rockets into space with profits from these endeavors invested back into the company for future technology development. Musk is targeting the 44-billion-dollar orbital launch business which has been booming with the demand of cellular and TV satellites (Bonk, 2016). Other successful businessmen have noticed SpaceX’s success and have launched several of their own companies to attempt to enter into this new market (Kashyap, 2019). The other two most prominent companies are Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic founded by Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson respectively.

These three companies are the start of a new space race but instead of a race between countries for national pride and demonstrating technologic prowess they would compete for market share of the space launch business. The space launch business would be servicing companies and governments with a need to launch satellites into orbit of earth. It is expected that market forces would drive the cost of launches down significantly with costs being in the tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram in the 1980’s to about one thousand dollars per kilogram by 2011 (Bonk, 2016). These reductions are most visible in the reusable rocket technology of SpaceX. With reductions in cost of launches new opportunities arrive such as space mining, manufacturing, power generation and colonization of planets with the latter being the vision of SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

While Musk envisions a wave of settlers leaving Earth behind for the unknown on Mars, NASA has researched what could be possible with lower cost launch options. In 1997 NASA research showed that a launch cost of four hundred dollars per kilogram would make an orbital solar powerplant viable. They calculated that a circular solar array only a few kilometers across would produce five billion watts of power which is five times more than current power demand. This power could be transferred anywhere on Earth via microwaves and would not be affected by weather as it would be outside the atmosphere (Bonk, 2016).

While some see this new market as a necessary next step in the evolution of humanity others see an opportunity to capitalize on the wistful dreams of others. One such company was Mars One which sought to fund a Mar’s colony by selling the rights of a reality TV show about the Martian colony, if this plan came to fruition it would have resulted in largest reality TV experience ever mounted (Ingberman, 2019). Mars One differed from companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin because they didn’t seek to develop the technology to make their vision of a Mars colony happen but instead sought to sell the idea of a Martian reality TV show. Experts dismissed Mars One as a mere scam, but a study done by MIT showed many dangerous shortfalls in the planning of Mars One. This study estimated the reality show contested would eventually suffocate if they grew their own food via plants after just 68 days (Chu, 2014). The same study also showed that Mars One has underestimated the amount of supplies that would need to be launched by a factor of five (Chu, 2014). In 2019 Mars One quietly declared bankruptcy with no measurable results beyond ideas on paper, twenty thousand dollars in cash and no future investments expected (Ingberman, 2019).

It is difficult to predict what will be successful in the future; much like predicating the impact of the GPS in the 1970’s would require envisioning the creation of whole new industries and markets that can apply such technology. The applications of current technology have generated many interesting proposals by various technologist and entrepreneurs only the future will tell if one of them could be viable. A proposal put forth by Elon Musk in 2017 would have rockets replace the modern airline industry with intra-planetary rocket travel. The video put forth shows a rocket launch from New York covering the seven thousand miles to Shanghai in 39 minutes (O’Kane, 2017). Others have envisioned commercialized mining of rare earth elements from other planetary bodies such a metals from asteroids or helium-3 from the lunar surface; such opportunities could enable humanity to end its reliance of fossil fuels (Kashyap, 2019).

The private space industry represents a forty-four-billion-dollar industry by providing private launch services to governments and other business. This industry employees thousands of people throughout America (Komerath, 2012). Short term benefits are easy to identify and measure, but the longer-term benefits are difficult to envision; we know from the space race of the 1960’s that entire new industries grew. A new space race of the 2000’s will certainly result in new industries decades later in addition companies that challenge the limits of humanity and our technology will inspire a generation of students to study STEM fields. History has shown us that the economic engine of the future will be new discoveries in science that might have their origins in a space race of the 2000’s.

References

Bonk, M. R. (2016). Space, Commercialization of. In E. Richmond, Space, Commercialization of (pp. 42-46). Farmington Hills: Cengage Learning.

Chu, J. (2014, Oct 14). Technical Feasiblilty of Mars One. Retrieved from MIT News Office: https://news.mit.edu/2014/technical-feasibility-mars-one-1014

Evans, K. M. (2016). Private Space Exploration. In K. M. Evans, Space Exploration (pp. 67-86). Farmington Hills: Cengage Learning.

Ingberman, D. (2019, Feb 14). Mars One and the Plan to Make a Reality show on Mars is Bankrupt. Retrieved from Universetoday: https://www.universetoday.com/141499/mars-one-the-plan-to-make-a-reality-show-on-mars-is-bankrupt/

Kashyap, V. (2019, Jan 30). What is the Future of Commercial Space Flight. Retrieved from InterestingEngineering: https://interestingengineering.com/what-is-the-future-of-commercial-space-flight

Komerath, N. M. (2012). Survey of American Industry and Careers. Space Exploration and Space Science Industry, 1741-1761.

LeRoy, J. (Producer), & Méliès, G. (Director). (1903). Voyage to the Mooon [Motion Picture]. Paris France. Retrieved from Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/89492

NASA, I. S. (2013, September). Benefits Stemming from Space Exploraion. Retrieved from NASA.GOV: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Benefits-Stemming-from-Space-Exploration-2013-TAGGED.pdf

O’Kane, S. (2017, Sept 29). Elon Musk SpaceX Rocket Transport for Earth Travel. Retrieved from The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/29/16383048/elon-musk-spacex-rocket-transport-earth-travel

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Paranormal Phenomena. Different Aspects of Paranormal Experience By Jessica Tremaine

admin — Thu, 16 May 2019 16:54:18 +0000

Experiences perceived as paranormal are not uncommon. A house that has the presence of a spirit, a demonic possession or exorcism, telepathy or ESP, some people even claim to have seen an actual ghost or apparition. The list goes on and on. The question of whether paranormal phenomena exists or not has been the topic of many debates, and decades of study. There are approximately 73% of people that believe in the paranormal (Merced). Why do people experience these phenomena? Does belief influence experience? To this day most of the studies are inconclusive at best, with no real definitive proof in favor of one answer or the other.

The real problem in studying a paranormal event is often times they are very difficult to replicate, therefore it is hard for the study to get enough accurate data. When there is a paranormal event that can not be replicated it is generally documented to appease the effected person or persons that experienced these phenomena and then stuck in a file drawer somewhere. These cases are rarely given a second glance.

There are however some significant paranormal cases that do catch attention. One of the most famous cases of paranormal phenomena in history was the haunting of the Amityville House. It all started in on November 13^th, 1974. It was around three in the morning when Ronald DeFeo Jr crept through his family’s home with his loaded rifle. He went into each of his siblings’ bedrooms and then into his parents’ bedroom and shot and killed everyone in their beds as they slept. Just about a year later the Lutz family moved into the house. It was soon after that when the Lutz family began to experience paranormal events (38 Real HH; Lovecraft).

They reported these events starting with small disturbances that they found odd and unsettling. Odd things like George Lutz would wake every morning around three am and find himself down at the boathouse. (He would later learn that this was the time that the murders occurred). He would also wake to the sound of the front door slamming shut, and when he would race downstairs, he would find the family dog sleeping soundly in front of the door. He asked his family and nobody else heard the door slamming. George’s wife Kathy began to have nightmares about the murders that took place in the home. She could tell you which order they occurred and which rooms they happened in. After that their children started sleeping face down, just how the murdered children were discovered after they were killed. All of these things started happening within just a few days of moving into the home (38 Real HH; Lovecraft).

Things escalated very quickly for the Lutz family. Their daughter Jodie had a “friend” that was a demonic pig-like creature with glowing red eyes. After hearing this from her daughter, Kathy began to see the glowing red eyes watching her and saw hoof prints outside of their window. The couple began seeing a demon-like figure around the house, and Kathy would often times feel an unseen force touching her. She even got welts on her chest caused by this force one night when it was levitating above her bed. One terrifying night in January, George and Kathy Lutz, after living in this house for only 28 days, had finally had enough. Things in the home were getting out of hand and they simply couldn’t take it anymore. They packed up a few of their belongings and fled to Kathy’s parent’s house with great haste, where they stayed until they could have movers go to retrieve the rest of their belongings. They didn’t want to discuss what happed that last night in the Amityville House. They said it was too horrific to relive, but they did say, they refused to return to the home for any reason. They were able to get their story told, however (38 Real HH; Lovecraft). There are many more highly publicized haunting stories like this that derived from very real events. That should make you wonder, if there are so many of these paranormal occurrences, why is there not a better system for studying them?

Throughout the years this has been a topic of interest for paranormal researchers, psychologists, parapsychologists, and scientists around the world. Scientists, however, rarely study the paranormal directly due to lack of government funding and the fact that most of their colleagues do not support this type of research and they view paranormal events with extreme skepticism. But paranormal phenomena can sometimes occur in human diseases, and because of this, some of these phenomena do in fact come under scientific scrutiny (Schnabel). In one paranormal study that focused on why people have ongoing paranormal experiences called, “Neurological and Robot-Controlled Induction of an Apparition”, Switzerland researchers led by Olaf Blanke, developed an illusionary experience that makes people feel that they are in the same room as a ghostly presence or the “feeling-of-a-presence”, (FoP). This study showed astonishing results from this simulation. It revealed that the when the person was feeling like they were in the presence of a ghost, it was because of mismatched sensory and motor information that confuses the brain and creates these feelings of a phantom presence (Pelletier; Schnabel).

In this study, a team of scientists designed a room involving two robots. One robot would sit in front of the participant, and one would sit behind them. The participant was blindfolded and asked to put their hand inside of a device connected to the front robot and move it around. Their hand movements were then transmitted to the robot that sat behind them, which prompted that robot to put its “hand” on the participants back. It would then mimic the participants hand movements in real-time. This made the participant feel like they were touching their own back because the robot was so in-sync with their own hand movements that their brain was able to adapt to the feeling and could not distinguish the difference between the participants hand and the robots’ “hand” (Pelletier; Schnabel).

The second part of this experiment is where things took a very interesting turn. This time when the participant put their hand in the device and moved their hand around, there was a split-second delay between their hand movements and the robots’ touch. After three minutes of delayed touching, several participants felt that there was something in the room with them. Other participants counted the presence of up to four “ghosts” in the room. Several of the participants asked to end the experiment before it was over because the feeling of a presence was so overwhelming, they couldn’t handle it and wished to leave (Pelletier; Schnabel).

This study suggests that when the robot has a delayed touch from the participants hand movements, their brain interpreted that touch as belonging to someone else. This triggered the part of the brain that also gets signaled when people experience hallucinations and schizophrenia (Pelletier; Schnabel).

This study shows just how easy it can be to disrupt the signals to our brain depending on environment and sensory information. Scientists predict that believers in the paranormal are more vulnerable to developing casual illusions than non-believers because there is a bias in the information they experience. In similar studies they found that paranormal beliefs correlated with these types of illusions, and it was entirely by the believers’ tendency to expose themselves to more cause-present information (Blanco,F et al.).

Hauntings and ghostly presence are not the only kinds of paranormal phenomena that scientists and researchers have been trying to prove throughout the years. Psychic abilities are among the top paranormal phenomena debates. Between the years 1974 and 2004, there was a study of more than three thousand trials, all called the “Ganzfeld” trials, that’s goal was to prove if people could actually possess psi, (extrasensory perception or psychokinesis experiences), abilities.

The process of these Ganzfeld experiments was to have two people in different rooms try to telepathically send and receive the same images. There was a “sender” who would be in an isolated room and they would be shown random images that they would then have to try to mentally send to the person known as the “receiver”. The “receiver” would also be in an isolated room known as “the red room”, and they would be put into a kind of sensory deprivation state. Their sight, sound and smell would all be dulled in hopes that their extrasensory perception would be heightened. They would then say out loud any images that popped into their mind. The researchers would then compare the images of the “sender” and the images the “receiver” experienced to see if they were the same (Tylor; Parker).

During those thirty years, the Ganzfeld experiments had a combined positive rate of 32%. Which means averaged out over the thirty years with over three-thousand trials, 32% of the time the “sender” and the “receiver” “saw” the same images. The odds of that is thousands of trillions to one! In later Ganzfeld trials of smaller sessions, the success rate of psi abilities went up. One that had 128 sessions was 47% positive, another was 50% (Taylor). The findings from these trials cannot be ignored! The continuous positive results of these experiments clearly show something significant that goes beyond coincidence, probability, or statistical coincidence.

This study brought outrage and controversy by skeptics. There was a counter experiment that was quickly put together by parapsychologist, Rey Heyman, so these skeptics could disprove the Ganzfelds’ findings. The counter experiments did in fact have contradictory results to the Ganzfeld trials. Keep in mind that they only did a total of eight studies and they matched up individuals who had previously had negative results for possessing any kind of psychic abilities (Taylor). The counter experiments were extremely bias and did not deter the Ganzfeld researchers from continuing their trials.

This study shows it is possible to explain away evidence of paranormal phenomena with experimenter bias if you are looking for a particular outcome. These scientists felt scared or threatened by the positive results that something unexplainable was real, and they needed to disprove it for their own peace of mind. Or perhaps they felt their careers were based on false facts. Whatever the reason, the fact of the matter is they tried to rationalize a paranormal phenomenon that was proven time and again to exist by years of sound, legitimate experiments.

Paranormal phenomena will continue to be a topic of interest by researchers, whether it is to prove or disprove its existence in our reality. There are several factors that come into play to create the conditions for a paranormal experience. Some can be explained by scientific studies and how our brains can play tricks on us, and some paranormal phenomena, try as we may, are unexplainable.

Works Cited

“38 Real Haunted Houses and the Stories behind Them.” Places You’ll See, 24 Dec. 2017, www.placesyoullsee.com/38-real-haunted-houses-and-the-stories-behind-them/.

Blanco, F, Barberia, I, Matute, H. “Individuals Who Believe in the Paranormal Expose Themselves to Biased Information and Develop More Casual Illusions than Nonbelievers in the Laboratory.” PLoS ONE (2015) e0131378. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131378

“Ghosts Debunked: Research Can Create Ghosts in the Lab, Tests Conducted by Swiss Doctors.” Bing, TomoNewsUS, 2014, www.bing.com/videos/search?q=swiss%2Brobot%2Bstudy%2Bparanormal&view=detail&mid=A029670C7BA4F68A204EA029670C7BA4F68A204E&FORM=VIRE.

Lovecraft, H.P. “The Amityville Horror.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Mar. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amityville_Horror.

McAndrew, Frank T. “How the God You Worship Influences the Ghosts You See.” The Conversation, 23 Mar. 2019, theconversation.com/how-the-god-you-worship-influences-the-ghosts-you-see-84163.

Merced, Matthew. “The Uncanny: A Biopsychosocial Perspective.” American Journal of Psychotherapy, vol. 71, no. 1, July 2018, pp. 39–49. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20180004.

Moore, David. “Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal.” Gallup.com, 16 June 2018, news.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx.

Nees, Michael A., and Charlotte Phillips. “Auditory Pareidolia: Effects of Contextual Priming on Perceptions of Purportedly Paranormal and Ambiguous Auditory Stimuli.” Applied Cognitive Psychology, vol. 29, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 129–134. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/acp.3068.

“Paranormal America 2017 – Chapman University Survey of American Fears 2017.” Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, 2017, blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2017/10/11/paranormal-america-2017/.

Parker, Adrian. “Ganzfeld.” Ganzfeld | Psi Encyclopedia, 2019, psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/ganzfeld.

Pelletier, Melissa. “The Brain Science Behind Paranormal Experiences: We Finally Put Ghosts to Rest.” NuSkool, 2017, www.nuskool.com/learn/lesson/brain-science-paranormal/.

Schnabel, Jim. “Swiss Neuroscientists Induce Spooky ‘Feeling of a Presence’ in Healthy Volunteers.” Swiss Neuroscientists Induce Spooky ‘Feeling of a Presence’ in Healthy Volunteers, 2014, www.dana.org/News/Swiss_Neuroscientists_Induce_Spooky_Feeling_of_a_Presence_in_Healthy_Volunteers/.

Taylor, Steve. “Open-Minded Science.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 2019, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-darkness/201901/open-minded-science.

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Extraterrestrial Life’s Potential Impact: Are We Alone? By Mitchell Gibson

admin — Thu, 16 May 2019 16:52:45 +0000

The question “are we alone” has been proposed since the creation of intelligent thought. According to Fermi’s Paradox, intelligent life must exist elsewhere, even though there is no evidence of it (Zacharias, 2018). The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been the major focus of many scientist’s lives, and for a good reason: we are not alone. There is too much coincidence in our solar system for us to be ultimately alone. Mars was moist and fertile before Earth existed, and it has been theorized that human’s original ancestral bacteria came from Mars, during the period of great bombardment (4 billion years ago, when the earth was being terraformed and constantly hit with massive celestial objects). This theory was proposed in 1996 when microbes were found in a meteor that was tested and found to have originated from Mars, which proves that some form of life existed outside of our planet (Gonzalez, 2014) (Tyson & Dawkins, 2012). Unfortunately, “life” is not defined the same in studies, so in this essay, “alien life” (or other similar terms) is used to define life that is capable of communication outside of their planet.

How did life originate on Earth? What we know is that life requires a specific ratio of specific chemicals: Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, all in a 1:1 ratio. Coincidentally, the most abundant elements in the entire universe happen to be just that, in the same ratio! This leads to the inevitable question of: If the building blocks exist everywhere in abundance, does ETI exist? The ‘Drake Equation’ attempts to answer that question. This equation factors in multiple variables to conclude the chance of intelligent life. With 4 to 5 stars being born each year, half of them have planets orbiting them, and 2 of those on average are in the habitable zone (Haynes, 2018). These are just a few factors that play into the Drake Equation, which has a pessimistic view on the existence of ETI (extraterrestrial intelligence). The equations takes into account the 100 billion stars in each one of the 10 trillion galaxies, which equals to 1 septillion stars, and 19 sextillion planets exist that are similar to earth (Frost, 2017).

With all the chances in the universe to harbor life, it is obvious that only time is needed to produce ETI. It only took approximately 400 million years for single cell organisms to form after earth went through its primary genesis, and then evolved for 3.5 billion years to where it is today (Tyson & Dawkins, 2012). Four billion years is all it took to create humanity, and other galaxies have systems of planets that have been around much longer than earth. Even mars has fossils of microbials, which means that if a second genesis of Mars occurred, then there has to be life on some of the other billions of exoplanets (planets orbiting a star) (Kaufman, n.d.). This conclusion is drawn by analyzing that there are 2 signs of life in just our system. How can we seriously think that we are alone in this universe?

Extraterrestrial life (ET) exists outside of our solar system, and might exist inside. The Milky Way galaxy consists of 4 arms, in which we are located on a desolate end of the Orion Arm (Tipler, 1981). This is relevant because we are far away from anything of importance. Any alien life capable of traversing space efficiently, wouldn’t bother with us. We are essentially in the “BFE” of the Milky Way (NASA, n.d.). Why would aliens visit us when major cities are just a few steps away (NASA, n.d.)

This leads to another point; we are useless to them. Unless they need our bodies for batteries, anything we could give them would be useless to a civilization intelligent enough to master space travel (Tyson & Dawkins, 2012). In 1964 Nicolai Kardashev invented a scaling system for theoretical ETI civilizations. A type 0 civilization (sub-planetary) gets all their energy from raw materials like oil, wood, and coal. A type 1 civilization (planetary) receives all the resources from the planet like wind/solar. A type 2 civilization (stellar) harnesses all its energy from the planet’s star. A type 3 civilization (galactic) harnesses all the energy from the entire galaxy, from all the suns and maybe from the black hole as well. Earth is a type 0.72 civilization, which means we are like an isolated African tribe compared to ETs (Faletto, 2017).

This only means that we won’t be visited soon. Humans have been shown to advance very fast, and we might be able to find life very soon. Bill Nye claims that within the next 30 years, we will more than likely confirm the existence of life on other planets (The Boötes Void, 2016). Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, is one of the most promising areas to find life. Europa has a thick crust of ice, in which the core is liquid water. The main ability for Europa to maintain fluid, is the extremely fast orbit period. The pull from Jupiter squeezes Europa, maintaining its temperature due to kinetic energy (Gonzalez, 2014). This isn’t ETI, but it is interesting if we could find alien bacteria. The discovery of life in this moon would prove many theories of ETI correct, making it the 3^rd presence of life discovered just in our solar system.

Let’s say that alien life does exist, what would their species look like? We know that evolution is more than likely constant in the universe, so evolution must take place elsewhere. Humans adapted to our mild atmosphere and tall flora by making us skinny and tall, and fish at the bottom the sea adapted to the immense pressure and darkness by becoming wide, flat, and blind. This is the same for all life, and theoretically ETI. They would have adapted to their planet’s environment. This means that aliens would change their look based off a multitude of environmental factors, and what dominating species wins out natural selection.

The Kardashev scale is a great scale to use when talking about advanced alien life. A type 3.5 civilization (sub-universal) would be in the process of dominating the universe. When a kingdom of that size exists, it would need a lot of energy. The best source of energy that we know of is nuclear fission, which is what a star is doing to create energy. Solar panels work great and all, but a physicist named Freeman Dyson proposed a revolutionary contraption: a Dyson sphere. A Dyson Sphere is basically a massive solar panel that envelopes an entire star and takes all of its energy. This means that we are trapping all of the photons trying to escape the star, which then makes it invisible to anything with human eyes (The Boötes Void, 2016).

A type 3.5 civilization would have entire clusters of stars in billions of galaxies slaving away for their energy, which should make massive “voids” in space. This leads to my personal favorite theory: the Boötes Void theory. The Boötes Void is an area of space that has 60 galaxies in it, where it should have 10,000 (The Boötes Void, 2016). This void is 330 million lightyears in diameter, and 236,000 Mcp³ (megaparsec cubed) in volume. This void is so massive it would be like finding a single 6-mile-long object in the entire United States (but in 3 dimensions) (Dvorsky, 2012). It is so hard to put an area this size into perspective, but if we were centered in the void, we wouldn’t even know other galaxies existed until 1960 (Skibba, 2017). This empty space, I propose, it a type 3.5 civilization. The vast empire is using most of the stars in the area as a means of energy and conquering neighboring galaxies.

This leaves a lot of people with two questions: if they were to come here, how long would it take, and could we defend ourselves? The void is about 700 million lightyears away, so we are far enough away to not have to worry about it for quite some time. And a civilization as advanced as this would be impossible to defend against. This doesn’t give people peace-of-mind, but no information could do that. The immense amount of information that is lacking on this subject is daunting, but there isn’t anything we can do about it. This means that we should not care if alien life exists, they won’t visit us or impact us in any way that we could control. If they do decide to make themselves known, we would be at their entire mercy, like leaves and the wind. Humans have pondered for eons on the concept life outside earth, and I don’t think it’ll be answered soon. Their existence hasn’t, and won’t, affect us at all. If there is a super-kingdom of ETI that is conquering the universe in the Boötes Void, there is nothing we can do at all. If they come, then we will be at their mercy. This is why we shouldn’t dwell on it, look for the answer because of a thirst for knowledge, not to prepare for a fight. ETI exists, we just won’t ever know where or who they are.

Bibliography

Drake, N. (2018, February 16). How Would We React to Finding Aliens? National Geographic.

Dvorsky, G. (2012, 6 12). Behold the Boötes void, the spookiest place in the cosmos. Retrieved from io9: https://io9.gizmodo.com/behold-the-bootes-void-the-spookiest-place-in-the-cosm-5923493

Faletto, J. (2017, July 15). The Kardashev Scale Is a Tool that Measures How Advanced a Civilization Is. Retrieved from Curiosity: https://curiosity.com/topics/the-kardashev-scale-is-a-tool-that-measures-how-advanced-a-civilization-is-curiosity/

Frost, R. (2017, November 15). The Number Of Earth-Like Planets In The Universe Is Staggering – Here’s The Math. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/11/15/the-number-of-earth-like-planets-in-the-universe-is-staggering-heres-the-math/#5bf9a7e24932

Gonzalez, R. (2014, July 31). Bill Nye Explains Why The Search For Alien Life Could End On Europa. Retrieved from io9: https://io9.gizmodo.com/bill-nye-explains-why-the-search-for-life-could-end-on-1614208598

Haynes, K. (2018, October 19). The Drake Equation. Discover.

Howell, E. (2017, June 14). We Live in a Cosmic Void, Another Study Confirms. Retrieved from Space: https://www.space.com/37191-we-live-in-a-cosmic-void.html

Howell, E. (2018, April 30). How Would Humanity React If We Really Found Aliens? Retrieved from Space: https://www.space.com/40435-finding-aliens-humanity-reaction.html

Kaufman, M. (n.d.). Life, Here and Beyond. Retrieved from AstroBiology from NASA: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/about/

Lant, K. (2017, April 3). Neil deGrasse Tyson Reveals When He Thinks We’ll Find Aliens. Retrieved from Futurism: https://futurism.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-reveals-when-he-thinks-well-find-aliens

Lee Billings, A. G. (2018). Out There. Seattle: White Photograph.

Lemonick, S. (2018, November 5th). Martian brines could hold a lot of oxygen. Chemical And Engineering News, p. 9.

Minerd, J. (May 2000). Aliens: A Social Phenomenon. The Futurist, 16.

NASA. (n.d.). Signs Of Life. Retrieved from Exoplanet Exploration from NASA: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/the-search-for-life/life-signs/

National Research Council. (1990). The Search for Life’s Origins: Progress and Future Directions in Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution. Washington DC: National Academies Press (US).

Shostak, S. (2019). Extraterrestrial intelligence. SETI Institute.

Skibba, R. (2017, June 29). Astrobiology: Hunting aliens. Nature, p. 1300L.

The Boötes Void. (2016, December 5). Retrieved from Bended Reality: https://bendedreality.com/the-bootes-void-is-this-evidence-of-an-alien-civilization/

Tipler, F. (1981). Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist. Retrieved from Physics Today: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2914542

Tyson, N. d., & Dawkins, R. (2012, September 28). The Poetry of Science. (H. U. Cramptom Auditorium, Interviewer)

Zacharias, K. (2018, August 2). If intelligent aliens exist, why haven’t we seen them? Retrieved from Physics: https://phys.org/news/2018-08-intelligent-aliens-havent.html

The post Extraterrestrial Life’s Potential Impact: Are We Alone? By Mitchell Gibson appeared first on 2626 East.

The Pixar Theory by Noah Hancock

admin — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 20:29:35 +0000

The current state of film features many colorful shared universes, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) or the Alien vs Predator universe. The blending of many different movie elements leads to many interesting possibilities in film. With so much potential, it leaves one to wonder whether there are more shared universes around; perhaps some that aren’t as discernible as the MCU. Jon Negroni proposed just that concept, and he went on to create The Pixar Theory, connecting every single Pixar movie into one single timeline. Now the question stands: Is Jon Negroni’s proposed shared universe concept accurate, or is it just a conspiracy?

But first, we need to know exactly where this theory is coming from. Negroni initially posted the theory on his personal blog. The theory documents the human, animal, and machine evolution throughout a single timeline. The movies starts with the good dinosaur, showing how the asteroid intending to kill all dinosaurs actually misses and starts an alternate ‘Pixar’ timeline. The movie demonstrates animal’s capability of superior intellect, yet mammals nevertheless dominate. The concept of dinosaurs dying out later means that humans develop technology at a quicker rate, because of the lack of fossil fuels. As seen in Brave, humans also experiment with magic, accidentally providing the landscape for animal’s return to superiority. Now nearly in the 50’s, The Incredibles demonstrates the human’s farther developed technology, known as zero point energy, as well as the adaptation of the witch’s magic.

Further along the timeline, we see toys and machines absorbing this same zero point energy and coming to life as seen in Toy Story. The theory begins to tackle human’s possession of energy, which can be used as fuel for the toys and animals. The toys need the children to be happy, and thus do not reveal themselves. We also see animals evolving at a peculiar rate around this time, doing near human things like reading and communicating (Finding Nemo/Finding Dory), and even mastering cooking (Ratatouille). The machine evolution subtly shows itself as well, through the company known as Buy n’ Large. The theory claims that the BnL company is responsible for the pollution of the planet, and we start seeing its initial control in Up and Toy Story 3. Then, once the humans have left the polluted planet (Wall-E), the machines make due with what they can (Cars), yet regardless show a shortage of fuel (Cars 2) as well as permeable deaths (Cars 3). The human energy is needed for sustaining life.

When the humans return to Earth at the end of Wall-E, they bring plant life back. Unfortunately, the animals have been evolving at a rapid pace in the human’s absence,(a Bug’s Life), and the theory takes a major leap to assume that the humans become scarce and the remaining animal life takes over. The bugs are mutated into monsters (Monsters inc. series), and they again have an energy crisis. This requires them to build time traveling doors, where they begin to harness human emotion for energy. This is also shown in Inside out, when the emotions are most powerful at happiness. Boo, a human child, crosses into the Monster universe and becomes infatuated with Sully. She eventually learns to control the same powers of door travel and energy, and becomes the witch from Brave. Start with a door, end with a door.

Overall, the Pixar theory is a creative piece of intricate connections by Negroni. The theory, however, does not provide nearly enough evidence for itself. The only main pieces of evidence all come from Jon Negroni himself. One other possible connection, provided through a disney youtube series called “Pixar Secrets”, demonstrates John Ratzenberger’s appearance in every Pixar movie to date. Ratzenberger’s appearance throughout the series is some form of concrete evidence, hinting at the possibility of a shared universe. But John Ratzenberger could be some form of hidden link, but he is not mentioned in Negroni’s drafts of the Pixar Theory. Unfortunately, this amount of “evidence” could not help confirm the Theory by itself.

Likewise, the evidence against the Pixar Theory seems to consistently mount up. An interview with Pete Docter, one of the leading creative minds behind Pixar’s Genius, provides him the question of whether the theory is true. Docter goes on to claim that “[the theory] breaks my brain. To me, they are very separate universes.” His quote almost perfectly refutes the Pixar Theory altogether. Another Pixar creative lead, Jay ward, was quoted with similar debunks when he said “ the movies were sort of made in a different order by different directors in different times, in different places. It’s cool that it all worked out that way, but it probably was not intentional.” The interviewer teases Ward, saying that perhaps he is actually feigning a debunk to let the secrecy of the Pixar universe prosper, to which he comments “It was all thought out in the beginning. It was all Steve Jobs’ master plan. It’s all about selling the iPhone 6”.When playing devil’s advocate, you can look at this interview and think that perhaps the creative minds behind Pixar were doing just that; pretending that the theory was actually false would leave them be to continue implementing ideas into this shared universe.

A much more likely scenario would be to say that the creators are just playing their hand in easter eggs. Easter eggs are “an intentional inside joke, hidden message or image, or secret feature of a work”. The separation of Theory and easter egg helps provide these Pixar interviewees with some further credibility (as if they need it… Docter personally directed four Pixar films); The easter eggs are just clever callbacks and nothing more. A Walt Disney run Facebook account posted a compilation video entitled “Easter eggs”, and runs through every clever cameo throughout the Pixar series, such as the pizza planet truck.

Jon Negroni’s Pixar Theory is very cleverly written, drawing very intricate details together to create a massive world. Unfortunately, the Theory is lacking in overall depth and support from the Pixar community, and will officially remain as just a conspiracy. To draw from Pete Docter’s answer to the Theory one last time: “If you want to imagine that they’re all connected, then I certainly don’t want to stop you.”

Annotated Bibliography

Disney. “Pixar Secrets | John Ratzenberger In Every Disney•Pixar Film | Oh My Disney” YouTube, 9 Oct, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVZT4t7eS9g&ab_channel=Disney.

This youtube video was posted by the official Disney Youtube channel. The video is a compilation of every appearance by John Ratzenberger to date, of which he appears in every single Pixar Productions movie since Pixar’s conception. The video may come in handy, as John Ratzenberger’s appearance in every film could play an important role in showing the theory’s different tenets and provide counter evidence. The video is titled as Pixar Secrets, which could give some insight into how the Ratzenberger characters could somehow tie in with the secrets of provided in the theory.

Nasserian, Daniel. “The ‘Pixar Theory’ Proved False by Pixar Legend Pete Docter.” Disney Geekery, 8 Aug. 2015, www.disneygeekery.com/2015/08/08/pixar-theory-proved-false-debunked-pixar-legend-pete-docter/.

Pete Docter is a film director, animator, and chief creative officer working with Pixar Animation studios. He is the brain behind many of the most acclaimed Pixar films, such as Up (2009) and Inside Out (2016). He has also contributed to numerous stories of the films throughout his career. The article, pulled off A Disney Geekery post, details an interview conducted with Docter along with co-director Ronnie del Carmen. The interviewers asked if the pixar theory held any water. Docter claimed to think that “This is gonna be a controversial answer. I don’t know. For me, that kind of breaks my brain, to think that they – I think of them as very different universes and that they don’t cross over.” Del Carmen followed by saying that We don’t believe that they are [take place in the same universe]…except we have these easter eggs that translate over all these movies so it’s contradictory when we say that, too.”.

It is hard not to look at an interview with a creative head of pixar with the magnitude of Docter and not take it as evidence against a theory such as this. The source will be used against the theory, to show how the creators themselves think of it as a concept that may seem disconnected from their own views of the universes.

Negroni, Jon. “The Pixar Theory.” Jon Negroni, 11 July 2013, web.archive.org/web/20180917020610/https://jonnegroni.com/2013/07/11/the-pixar-theory/.

The original author of the Theory, Jon Negroni, originally published the entire theory in his personal website’s post. The post has gone on to receive over 22,000 comments and has received lots of traction over the recent years. Of course, there were speculations of a pixar universe for many years, but Negroni’s post is the first one to put it into words. This source outlines this theory and is important to understand the theory in its entirety.

The post goes into incredible detail about how the films are thoroughly intertwined in the same chronological timeline and universe. The base of the theory stems from the witch’s magical abilities in the film Brave (2012), and has since been connected to each and every film released by Pixar Studios through his theory.

Torchinsky, Jason. “Pixar’s Jay Ward Responds To The Unified Pixar Movie Theory.” Jalopnik, Jalopnik, 18 July 2013, jalopnik.com/pixars-jay-ward-responds-to-the-unified-pixar-movie-th-822973346.

Jay Ward is a creative director previously employed on the likes of pixar productions such as Cars (2006) and Inside Out (2016). He has been in charge of numerous facets involving the pixar films, such as character direction in the Cars film. The source is an interview of Ward, of which he is questioned regarding the Shared Universe Theory. He went on to say that “the movies were sort of made in a different order by different directors in different times, in different places. It’s cool that it all worked out that way, but it probably was not intentional.” He also sarcastically states that of course the films are connected, they were a ploy by Steve Jobs to “sell the iPhone 6”. This interview can be valuable whether leaning to disprove or prove. For disprove, it is as clear as day that a creative director claimed there is no way such loose connections could be official. On the other hand, denying the theory could also be part of the theory itself and could further the evidence, though unlikely.

Toy Story. ‘Easter Eggs.” 15 Jan. 2017. Facebook post. https://www.facebook.com/PixarToyStory/videos/10154597909999130/

The Toy Story Facebook page is an official Disney account, which posts Toy Story and Pixar related content. While the credibility of Facebook is quite feeble, the reason for citing can mean much more. The post has been quoted by several news articles, some as big as NBC news, as “confirming” the pixar theory as true. However, the video is titled Easter Eggs, which Jon Negroni, the Author of the Pixar Theory, has brushed off anything claiming easter egg in the past. He said “easter eggs are just easter eggs and don’t match up to the theory”. Regardless, the fact that disney used this compilation in an official post shows that they have acknowledged their own clever connections to the movie, and the source will be used to hopefully show that the Theory is not so elaborate after all but can ultimately be boiled down to easter eggs.

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#Neveragain by Yasmine McRoyal

admin — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 17:00:50 +0000

I awoke from my deep slumber on February 14^th to reach for my phone and check my social media as I do in my morning routine. As I was scrolling and went to check the news the headlines that I saw made me turn blue, “Breaking News School Shooting in Parkland, Florida at local High School” “17 killed as gunman opens fire at Parkland High School” “Death Toll Is at 17 and Could Rise in Florida School Shooting” “Former Student Opens Fire on Classmates” “Gunman has been arrested and is in police custody”. What started out as a normal day for the teachers and students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, transformed in a scene of grisly mass murders and injuries perpetrated by a 19-year-old high school student Nikolas Cruz. This left our country reeling from yet another massacre in the nation’s school but not only our nation was left mourning but all of the surviving students. This left them in a state of rage that, yet our country let this happen again.

The rage, that is what many of us felt when we first heard of this shooting and what we continue to feel when these school shootings are happening every other month, week, and day. On the day when I woke up and checked my phone I was so upset about this school shooting I even started to cry, I wasn’t really sure why this one hit so close to home. I thought it was because my little brothers were going to be freshmen’s in high school that fall, I can’t even begin to imagine what the survivors felt. The initial impact this shooting had on me was that it made me scared, I was getting scared to go to school and I would worry that this would happen to me or any of my family that are in high school or middle school. That thought alone terrified me. I was petrified for the safety of my little brothers that I even told them to remember to be nice to anyone that you come in contact with in school because you never know how much of a difference you can make in a person’s life. I even keep that thought to myself.

It started with the hashtag #NeverAgain. After the mass shooting a few of the seniors at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School took it upon themselves to start protesting for reform on the gun laws starting the foundation called “Never Again MSD”. With the everlasting ripple effect of the shooting it wasn’t very hard for them to get people on board with them. It started with the planning of the event called March for Our Lives. March for Our Lives was a student-led demonstration in support of tighter gun control that took place on March 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C. This was led and started by members of Never Again MSD. This even was broadcasted all around the world and was talked about for weeks after it was over. The seniors from MSD started a revolution that wouldn’t just get left in the dust and forgotten about in a couple months. This event was for a really a good cause but still ended up getting a bad reputation. People even started to go as low as making fun of their looks and saying that they are just teenagers that don’t even understand what is going on. But if you don’t try how do you know?

After the summer of this year was over and the talk of going back to school was back in the picture the first thing that was talked about was Clear Backpacks. Robert Runcie, the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools in Florida, announced the new policy six weeks after the event. Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were given clear back packs that they are required to wear on campus in order to prevent anyone from bringing weapons onto campus. Now of course there was an uproar of controversy with these back packs because the shooter at the time wasn’t even a student at the school anymore and he still managed to cause so much damage. Also, because it is such an invasion of privacy. I understand that they have good intentions, but we are going to need more than clear backpacks to prevent these mass shootings from happening. Another type of back pack that was released and talked about was the Bullet Proof Backpack. What I thought was interesting, is that instead of looking into the laws and trying to make them better they are coming out with all these different types of backpacks except being willing to reform gun laws. I was talking to my little brothers about school one time and they told me that one of their friends carries a bulletproof backpack to school. The kid told my little brothers that his backpack cost $300 and is an extra 3.5 pounds because of the plating/lining in the backpack. This enough confirmed that people are scared if they are willing to pay that much for a backpack.

Although it may not feel like any of the gun laws have been reformed, they have. More than 50 new gun reform laws have been passed since the outcry from our country after the Parkland shooting, here are just a couple I wanted to include. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a $400 million of legislative reforms for school security, mental health and gun control. The legislation bans the use of bump stocks — devices that allow the rapid firing of certain firearms — increases the minimum rifle purchasing age from 18 and 21, and institutes a three-day waiting period on all firearm purchase. In Rhode Island, Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order allowing law enforcement agencies to consider “all red flags, including recent threats of violence made in person, in videos and on social media and take all available legal steps to remove firearms from any person who poses a threat to themselves or others”. On March 14, the House passed school safety legislation, while not including any gun-control measures, seeks to prevent school shootings. The Students, Teachers and Officers — or STOP — School Violence Act would authorize grants to train students, teachers and law enforcement officers on how to recognize and report threats of gun violence, and improve security features like locks, lights and metal detectors. A companion bill has bipartisan support in the Senate. These are just a few of the legislations or laws that have been made or changed since the shooting. I found this video that goes over most of the laws that have been passed since the shooting in just a minute and twenty-seven seconds, https://nowthisnews.com/videos/news/more-than-50-state-gun-laws-passed-in-6-months-since-parkland .

There have been many novels written about school shootings one of the most popular one is “Nineteen Minutes” was written in March of 2007 by the #1 New York Times Best Selling Author Jodi Picoult, the mass shooting takes place at Sterling High, in New Hampshire, and lasts for the nineteen minutes of the book’s titular namesake. Peter Houghton, the seventeen-year-old school shooter, changes the lives of many people on March 6, 2007, when he opens fire on his fellow classmates. Nineteen minutes won A Flume award in 2009 as well as the Iowa HS Book Award (given by the Iowa Association of School Librarians) in 2010. Now there are many books, but I chose to mention this one because it was written a few years ago and is still very much so relevant in this day and age. Books aren’t the only things that school shootings are mentioned in, hit artist Shawn Mendes collaborated with Khalid to come out with the song titled “Youth” on May 3^rd of this year. This song talks about waking up and hearing about all the devastation the headlines and not letting the pain turn into hate and in the end take our youth away. Shawn Mendes and Khalid performed this song on the 2018 Billboard Music Awards along with having several if not all of the Parkland survivors on stage with them. This was a powerful and moving performance and shook the country. One last thing I want to talk about is a video titled “Evan” that was released in 2016 by the Sandy Hook Promise Organization. This video shows you how to be aware and to see the signs of a school shooter before they go through with it. Here is the link for you to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8syQeFtBKc .

Overall something that we should learn from this school shooting and something that we should’ve learned in the past is that, now that this is happening so often and isn’t being taken seriously we need to be well prepared and stand up for what we believe in. If no one stands up how are we going to make a change? #NeverAgain.

Works Citied

Aggeler@mmaggeler, Madeleine. “Parkland Students Are Not Happy About Their Clear Backpacks.” The Cut, 3 Apr. 2018, www.thecut.com/2018/04/florida-school-shooting-clear-backpacks.html. Date Accessed 4^th Oct. 2018.

Associated Press / NBC4. “New School Year Starts in Parkland, 6 Months After Shooting.” NBC4 Washington, NBC4 Washington, 15 Aug. 2018, www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/Six-Months-After-Shooting-Stoneman-Douglas-Students-Head-Back-to-Class-490906281.html. Date Accessed 29^th Sept. 2018.

Burch, Audra D. S. “’Are We Going to Die Today?’ Inside a Parkland Classroom as Bullets Flew.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 June 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/us/parkland-shooting-class-survivors.html. Date Accessed 30^th Sept. 2018.

“Evan .” YouTube, YouTube, 2 Dec. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8syQeFtBKc. Date Accessed 4^th Oct. 2018.

Hartocollis, Anemona, and Patricia Mazzei. “She Gave Nikolas Cruz an Ultimatum: The Gun Goes, Or You do. He Chose the Gun.”ProQuest, Mar 20, 2018, https://search.proquest.com/docview/2018985489?accountid=3859. Date Accessed 27^th Sept. 2018.

Haynes, Danielle. “After Parkland: A Timeline of Gun-Control Activism, Legislation.” UPI, UPI, 31 July 2018, www.upi.com/After-Parkland-A-timeline-of-gun-control-activism-legislation/1001522267185/. Date Accessed 4^th Oct. 2018

Karimi, Faith, and Holly Yan. “What’s Changed a Month after the Parkland Shooting.” CNN, Cable News Network, 14 Mar. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/03/14/us/parkland-school-shooting-a-month-later/index.html. Date Accessed 27^th Sept. 2018.

NowThis News. “More Than 50 State Gun Laws Passed in 6 Months Since Parkland.” NowThis, NowThis News, 8 Aug. 2018, nowthisnews.com/videos/news/more-than-50-state-gun-laws-passed-in-6-months-since-parkland. Date Accessed 4^th Oct. 2018.

Randewich, Noel. “Two Months after Parkland Shooting, Gun Makers’ Stocks Are Rallying.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 20 Apr. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-stocks/two-months-after-parkland-shooting-gun-makers-stocks-are-rallying-idUSKBN1HR26Y. Date Accessed 28^th Sept. 2018.

Younge, Gary. “Young People Can’t Change US Gun Law Alone—but They Could Tip the Balance.” The Guardian, 23 Feb. 2018. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com.ez1.maricopa.edu/apps/doc/QZLWPY240968392/OVIC?u=mcc_chandler&sid=OVIC&xid=f18e73a6. Date Accessed 3^rd Oct. 2018.

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A War on Beliefs by Madeline Critchfield

admin — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:04:25 +0000

Neil Gaiman, in his book American Gods, claims that “religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world” (Gaiman, loc. 8985). In American Gods, the characters are, well, gods. They are gods from different countries around the world that have come to America through the belief the people. These gods, some centuries old, are about to enter into a war with the “new gods.” The new gods are the “gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon. Proud gods, fat and foolish creatures, puffed up with their own newness and importance” (Gaiman, loc. 25549) and these new gods are trying to kill off the old ones. Typically, when an author personifies something, such as the physical embodiment of credit cards trying to kill Thor, he or she is trying to convey a certain point. Gaiman is using this war, as described in the book, to represent the shift in American values from faith, community, and reliance on divine power to reliance on technology and self-sufficiency. Considering the main character sides with the old gods, this shift causes an issue. This war of faiths is prevalent in the current controversies throughout the country, and depending on what people do or do not believe in, battles will occur every day on the front lines of American conversation.
What would controversies be without differing political opinions? One of the First Amendment rights is the freedom to worship how one pleases, without government interference, and the underlying meaning from the establishment clause of “a wall of separation between church and state” (Separation of Church and State). When the United States was established, and the revolutionary war was fought, the then future Americans wanted to practice faiths different from that of England’s established church. They were a religious people who wanted to worship what they personally believed to be true. In American Gods, this aspect of escaping to America with different religions was symbolized in a variety of people throughout the early periods of the Earth, and people wanted to believe in their own Gods. Recently, this separation of church and state has changed its meaning from the notion that the state has no control over religion to the assertion that religious beliefs have no control over the government. In the 1940’s, court cases seemed to rule in favor of religions in cases such as “Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) and Everson v. Board of Education (1947)…In Cantwell… requiring a license for general solicitations was legal, but requiring one for religious preaching was a breach of the First Amendment.” In the case of Everson, “Justice Hugo Black ruled that the providing of services, such as public transportation, to parents of students in religious schools is ‘separate and so indisputably marked off from the religious function’ that it did not violate the separation of church and state” (Separation of Church and State). However, in more recent cases, we see a swap in interpretation, such as the case that “fined Barronelle Stutzman, a florist in Richland, Washington, for denying service to a gay couple in 2013, and ordered her to pay a $1,000 fine” (Washington court rules against florist in gay wedding case). Here we see an example of the government not allowing someone to practice his or her religious beliefs because the church has to be separate from the state.
In fact, with the growth of millennials and their rise to power, religion has become less about “institutions–political, civic, academic, or religious,” but more of “’moralistic, therapeutic deism.’ This is an ethic that says ‘what is right for me may not be right for you but no one has the right to judge anyone else’” (D.G. Hart). Reporter Kenneth Woodward believes this trend started with “the baby boomers [who] were looking for a religion that ’had nothing to do with ancient texts, gender wars, or institutions’; they wanted instead ‘the experience of their selves as sacred’” (D.G. Hart). These baby boomers had their own children (the millennial generation) who also wanted to find their own identity and views. However, as the baby boomers wanted to escape the intense structure of religion, the next generation followed the pattern, where going to church or worshiping has become less and less of a social norm. For example, the “nones” or the “religiously unaffiliated…now account for 23% of the adult population,” (Wormald) and not all of them profess a lack of belief in a God. They just don’t want to be connected to any religion. In American Gods, this is a reason why the old gods became old, they were not being acknowledged or worshiped, and would die off, making way for the new gods, and so the war began.
In fact, in this war between old and new, the fight for changing ideals has never occurred on such a large front as today’s media, which is also one of the main new gods. On social media outlets, battles over beliefs are constantly being fought. For example, when terrorist attacks and mass killings occur, people will share their “thoughts and prayers” on outlets such as Twitter, but apparently, it is now inappropriate to do so because “The terrorists pray. Good people think” (Judkis). Those who believe this way do not believe, or have faith, in a divine being or beings to assist, such as was proclaimed in a recent New York Daily News headline, “God isn’t fixing this” (Judkis). Instead of reliance on the divine, Americans today would rather put their trust in themselves.
However, as Gaiman suggests, why would this be a bad thing to rely completely on oneself? As the quote in the beginning says, religions act as “vantage points from which to view the world” (Gaiman, loc. 8985). When you don’t have a vantage point, then what do you stand for? As the popular saying goes, if you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything. Why else would so many of these people on social media change opinions so often, or have conflicting arguments? Not only that, but according to Mastering the World of Psychology one of the four main ways people cope with stress through their religious faith (Wood, 342). These “new gods” will come and go, just as quickly as new car or iPhone models are released, because technology keeps changing. Religions, however have persisted for thousands of years, and will continue to remain as long as there are those who will lend faith and trust in something greater than themselves.

Works Cited
D.G. Hart. “From Nuns to ‘Nones’; Young Americans Today Don’t have Teachers Or Pastors to Shape their Belief. they Think of Religions as a Solo Quest for an Authentic Self.” Wall Street Journal (Online), Oct 05, 2016, National Newspapers Core, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1825963580?accountid=3859.
Gaiman, Niel. American Gods The Tenth Anniversary Edition. William Morrow & Co, 2012.
Judkis, Maura. “Social Media Rethinking ‘Thoughts and Prayers’.” The Washington Post, Dec 04, 2015, National Newspapers Core, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1738919603?accountid=3859.
“Separation of Church and State: Should there be a strict separation of church and state in the United States?” Issues & Controversies, Infobase Learning, 14 Jan. 2013, http://icof.infobaselearning.com.ez1.maricopa.edu/recordurl.aspx?ID=6324. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.
“Washington court rules against florist in gay wedding case.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 16 Feb. 2017, www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/16/washington-court-rules-against-florist-in-gay-wedding-case.html. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.
Wood, Samuel E., et al. Mastering the world of psychology. 5th ed., Boston, Pearson, 2014.
Wormald, Benjamin. “U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 2 Nov. 2015, www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.

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The Convenience of Not Needing God by Devon Thomas

admin — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:03:55 +0000

From early childhood on, Americans are entitled with a certain sense of freedom, instilled in them by the now-fading American dream: they can be whatever, whoever; they can create the life they want–they simply have to work for it. This idea of creating a lifestyle to establish a sense of convenience, has shifted with the development of material goods that allows one complete and utter independence, should they choose it. The danger of culminating a culture contrary to its founding ideals, comes in the loss of where to place new ideals. It quickly becomes a cultural convention of people who relied on forms of higher power, to now lead a life completely independent of spiritual worship. Thus, as displayed in Neil Gaiman’s novel, American Gods, America’s access to technology and development has shifted its culture from “one nation under God,” to secularization.

Gaiman’s novel depicts both the reality of such a culture and its implied consequences, particularly in how it affects interpersonal relationships. Even the names of many of the gods denote the incontestable nature of this shift: traditional, ancient gods, such as Ibis, Jacquel, the Zorya Sisters–to the new gods: Technical Boy, Media, the Intangibles. It is thus made immediately clear from the beginning of the novel, that Gaiman intends to impress how far American culture has shifted its values. This shift in worshipping materials rather than spiritual deities, is demonstrated in American consumption ideology (Haggins). While “the meaning that people, as consumers, ascribe to their possessions, as products, seems to remain ever elusive,” it is becoming explicitly apparent that, “the personal, socio-cultural, and situational meanings that arise through interaction with “things”” is undeniable (Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 38). This realization is vital in understanding the value assigned to technology is an incessant cycle: American culture plays both its own worshippers and gods in the creation of technological advancements, thus creating a culture that transforms independence to isolation, damaging efforts toward interpersonal relationships. Gaiman further depicts this through the pointed declaration from Whiskey Jack to Shadow that America is “not a country for gods,” (649), because of the cultural shift from worship through tradition and order, to worship of self, of object, of agency.

Furthermore, with the progression of technology and thus cultural secularization, comes the idea that religion transforms itself into means of convenience. Gaiman demonstrates this sense of abusing religion for self-service, in a conversation between Jesus and Shadow. Jesus prompts Shadow what being a god truly means; he answers his own question, explaining, “Everyone gets to recreate you in their own minds…you’re a thousand aspects of what people need you to be. And everyone wants something different from you” (Gaiman, 748-749). The idea of utilizing religion, and specifically a god, for one’s own needs and wishes, is not a novel concept; it has been a progression in American culture for years. Sociologist and professor Steve Bruce articulated that religion “diminishes in social significance, becomes
increasingly privatized, and loses personal salience except where it finds work to do other than
relating individuals to the supernatural” (Bruce, 30). It is important to note that this shift toward a secular nation is not a black-and-white issue; it was not a matter of whim, but of careful decisions that would eventually lead America away from its theological foundations. This progression toward secular worship grew in part from those “espoused to materialism,” motivated to establish a cultural change, largely due to a “complex mix of antipathy” toward religious peoples (Smith, 1-2).

The effect of such a drastic cultural shift is particularly damaging toward intrapersonal relationships as well. Gaiman reaffirms this ideal when the technical boy hauntingly sings to Bilquis, “You are an immaterial girl living in a material world…You are an analog girl, living in a digital world” (Gaiman, 475-476). The forthright reminder serves to highlight the intrapersonal displacement that many suffer as a result of the shift toward secularism. Often this creates social displacement both within the individual, and with those around them. Beliefs of spirituality or higher law served as fundamental guidance for Americans; now, in contemporary times, with bombardments of purposeful uncertainty and doubting, secularism makes sense socially. If one does not follow suit, they lose out on a sense of cultural inclusion–of history, of decision-making, of influencing. It is becoming more apparent that materiality is the “precondition for the social circulation and temporal persistence of experiences and ideas” (Webb). The harm of such a shift toward willing isolation is further demonstrated by Gaiman, when Media persuades Shadow: “We can give you power over what people believe and say and wear and dream” (558). Media presents the ever-pervading ideal that one’s power and worth comes through what they themselves worship; people are no longer defined by the strength of their god, but by the material manifestation of where they place their time. While the significance of worship has not changed–“the language of the human heart is life experience connected to worship” (Bean)–the intentions behind it, thereof, have. That is precisely what is so damaging to the intrapersonal relationship; the shift of focus from outside worship, striving for improvement in self and culture, is lost in the shift toward materialism. The focus, instead, becomes not how the self is perceived by the self, but how the self is perceived by others. This shift is fundamentally detrimental to the human spirit, and has damaged American culture as an entity, depicting its“fall from grace” (Haggins).

America’s progression toward a nation of secularization has neither been simple nor uneventful. Instead, such a shift, has entirely altered the way American culture operates. In Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Gaiman demonstrates the destructive effects such a shift carries. People no longer worship ideologies or established belief systems; this is not the issue in itself. The break from rigidity and mindless worship was necessary to developing both a nation and culture that is independent, creative, and successful. This break was a historical catalyst, enacted in bits and pieces; however, it was this same break, that would later become distorted in its ideals and representations: that not needing a god, is convenience. But what harm has convenience ever done anyhow?

Works Cited

Bean, Heather Ann Ackley. “Human Spirituality in a Pluralistic Context.” Academic Exchange

Quarterly, Fall 2000, p. 90. Academic OneFile. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

Bruce, Steve. God is dead: Secularization in the West. Vol. 3. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002. Accessed

14 April 2017.

Gaiman, Neil. American Gods. New York, NY: William Morrow, an Imprint of HarperCollins,

Print.

Haggins, Bambi L. “There’s no place like home: the American Dream, African-American

identity, and the situation comedy.” Velvet Light Trap, 1999, p. 23+. Academic OneFile. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

Rader, Scott, et al. “Toward a theory of adoption of mobile technology devices: an ecological

shift in life-worlds.” Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, vol. 20, no. 3, 2016, p. 38+. Academic OneFile. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

Smith, Christian Stephan. “Rethinking the Secularization of American Life.” Introduction. The

Secular Revolution: Power, Interests, and Conflict in the Secularization of American Public Life. Berkeley: U of California, 2003. N. pag. Print.

Webb, Keane. “On the materiality of religion.” Material Religion, vol. 4, no. 2, 2008, p. 230+.

Academic OneFile. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

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Water Under the Bridge by Malek Holland

admin — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 05:49:42 +0000

A police car pulls up to a gas station and two white officers emerge from the vehicle. The black man standing in front of the gas station slowly places his hands folded behind his head and turns to face the gas station’s brick wall. The officers walk into the gas station. Situations like these occur every day. Minorities now take safety precautions to avoid conflict with police officers. These precautions are fueled by many things. Racism and fear are the two big topics when speaking on the treatment of minorities amongst law officials. The most prominent reason why specific ethnicities are cautious around officers, is caused by the span of modern day police misconduct. With the existence of social media, issues quickly become a theatre premier to the rest of the world. Images and videos of police brutality have flooded platforms such as Twitter. Everybody formulates their own opinions and automatically posts them. This causes a fragmentation of the truth. People then fear, not because of potential death, but due to uncertainty. Many questions surface. Amongst the plethora of questions are what has happened, who’s fault is it, and how can it be solved?

If you are somebody who does not watch the news very often, chances are that you know about police brutality, but you are unsure about what specifically has gone on. Twitter and the media that young people mostly spend their time viewing, fail to properly cover what is happening in the world. Twitter only showed one side of what has occurred in the last few years regarding police brutality. Thousands of people got behind the black lives matter movement from 30 second video clips on social media. Underneath these clips are often emotionally charged opinions, jokes, and antagonizing individuals hiding behind fake profiles. Social media is not a credible place to formulate an opinion. Before anyone should display how they feel about police brutality, first they should understand what can cause it and where it commonly stems from. There are many different races and genders that are victims to police misconduct whether it be good it bad. African Americans and police brutality go hand and hand nowadays. It is horrible that statement is true. The stereotype of police killings usually pertains to black people being killed. In some instances, criminals deserve what misconduct is coming at them. The issue is that there are many cases that leave questions and uncertainty about who is to blame. When looking deeper, one can argue that everybody is to blame. Many areas of the United States are classified as places that practice institutionalized racism. As said in an article about blue on black violence, “There are two sets of reasons why racial segregation renders African-Americans vulnerable to repeated police interactions. The first relates to policing in black communities. Historically, the police have perceived poor, racially segregated black communities as “war zones” that require ongoing police presence,” (Carbado). It is not the communities fault that police interactions are frequent. There is a label on ghettos and low income neighborhoods that cause a perceived image of the people living in those areas. The police see these people and act on what they know goes on in these places. Drugs, gangs, and violence all stem from these places because these areas, “lack substantive employment and educational opportunities” (Carbado). African Americans often become a product of their environment. It is much easier to sell weed around the neighborhood on a flexible schedule, than work a nine to five that eventually becomes frustrating. Black people become more exposed to police situations because of their environment. One may claim, “Why don’t they just attempt to leave the ghetto?”. If it was that easy, people would do it. When a person from the ghetto removes themselves from it, they tend to move to a more suburban area of the country. This comes with its own set of problems. “For instance, an African-American in Pacific Palisades at 9 p.m. is presumptively “out of place” and therefore presumptively suspicious because of the racial geography of Los Angeles County; there are relatively few black people who live in Pacific Palisades,” (Carbado). There are not many choices for people dealing with the unfair treatment of police officers. It sadly adds up too well for police officers and therefore, they act according to their gut feelings. It is known that minorities often involve themselves with gangs and illegal behavior. The stereotypes follows them wherever they go. When these attributes come into effect, black people are often confronted by the police no matter the setting. What happens after that, is what becomes questionable.

There are a countless number of police and African American confrontations. This causes several divisions between people based on how they perceive the video evidence commonly shown after a confrontation. There is always a group of people who demand the indictment of officers. Their opinions are often emotionally charged to the highest capacity. The issue is that many of the victims of these police shootings are unarmed. Therefore, people ask for justice in the way they see fit, because the victims could not defend themselves. There are situations that happen on both sides of the fence. Sometimes, the victim is right and the officers are charged. Other times, the victim is simply wrong for resisting arrest and even sometimes having a form of weaponry on them. There are a couple cases that involve fake guns on individuals who have been shot by police officers. Examples of the variation of cases can be seen on several official news websites and police databases. In one specific case involving a man named Samuel Dubose, an officer had asked him for his license and Dubose refused. He was being pulled over for a traffic stop. After refusing to step out of the vehicle and give a license, the officer opened fire on Dubose, killing him. The officer is currently charged with murder and has been released after posting 10% of a million-dollar bail. “The county prosecutor called the shooting a “senseless act.” Tensing is scheduled to face a jury starting Oct. 24,” (Funke). This is one example that a police officer was indicted for his ruthless killing. On the other side of the spectrum, resides a case involving a 19-year-old African American male named Christian Taylor, who had been reported for burglary in a car dealership. A few officers showed up at the scene and one fatally shot Taylor. Security footage shows that Taylor was destroying vehicles inside the dealership. The officer who shot him would be fired, but no charges were pressed against him. Another case speaks on a man named Markus Clark who was robbing a gas station when two officers arrived while Clark was wrestling a clerk from the station. Clark succumbed to his injuries after being taken to the hospital. No charges were brought upon those officers. There are so many different cases in which minorities have ended up dead at the hands of police officers. Many officers nowadays carry cameras on them, which provides video evidence of what goes on during confrontations. Many cases have resulted in failure to indict officers. These cases cause an uproar in many communities. Riots burst within cities causing chaos. Many individuals tend to take matters into their own hands which leads to more death and murder amongst both parties. The Rodney King Riots and Ferguson Riots were two staples in American history. From these riots, emerged better conditions. Los Angeles has reported that, “crime has gone down throughout the city and race relations have significantly improved,” (Medina). Riots have created a better setting for minorities and police relations. Fingers must not be pointed when it comes to police brutality, because there are faults on both sides of the field. What is deeply rooted, is the lack of trust within the police force which causes these misunderstandings repeatedly. Police feel alone and often must resort to their own judgement due to the lack of communication from citizens within ethnic communities. This is the problem that must be solved.

There are several issues that can contribute to the betterment of relationships between police officers and the minority communities. These issues effect everybody who lives within The United States. President Barack Obama says in a speech given after the verdict to the Eric Garner trial that “It is incumbent about all of us as Americans – regardless of race, region, faith – that we recognize this is an American problem and not just a black problem, or a brown problem, or a native American problem, this is an American problem,” (TV). America is in dire need for people to care about its issues. Regardless of differences in gender, color, and religion, everybody should be concerned about police misconduct. Unfair treatment under the law is a problem that has failed to go away and it effects every person in the United States. The people must make attempts to repair their fractured trust in the police. Without the police, how will anybody be safe? The world needs law enforcement to run correctly. It also needs a law enforcement that the citizens can trust. Criminals could possibly run rampant if the police are not trusted. In order to fix this issue, people must report police misconduct and make it unacceptable for the police to treat different people unfairly. There is technology out there that makes it easier to report the police, “After winning several lawsuits, the labs have helped force city police to release information on their use of cell phone tracking devices and has created an interactive primer on local police surveillance practices,” (Purdom). With pushes for devices such as this one, the people will begin to feel more in power. With better confidence in the ability to counteract police misconduct, trust in the police will return to the citizens. The police will be held accountable for their actions. The people must also cease the finger pointing. Whether the police are wrong, or the people are wrong, an opinion on twitter will not change the issues at hand. Participation in state government and city council business will change laws for people who demand change in today’s world. Going out there and actively engaging in city council events and voting will change what is going on in the communities. Lack of political presence and decisions causes less pressure on police for their actions as said in the Georgetown Law Journal, “The bottom line is that the more economically and politically powerless a community, the greater that community’s vulnerability to law enforcement contact and thus the possibility of excessive force by the police” (Carbado). Minorities are a rarity amongst government jobs. This problem can be solved through better education and promotion of jobs that can change the community. It starts from within. The ethnic communities are institutionalized and the white neighborhoods are thriving. The gap between them will continue to increase if nothing is done. The relationship between the police and the people must be mended with efforts from both sides.

The bystander effect is in full motion when speaking on topics such as police brutality. It directly effects a fraction of minorities. The percentage of minorities that are effects is nothing compared to how many people live in America. This is the bystander effect because nobody feels like they can do anything about what is going on. The video evidence is extremely convincing. With countless videos showing blue on black crime, people are forced to create their own opinions on what is going on in the world. The Black Lives matter movement was birthed through a social media hashtag, but it takes more than tweets. It involves education of what is going on in the communities. Higher class communities must understand that ghetto communities are not ghetto by choice, but because that is the way that it has been working for years. It is time for a change. It is not the police’s fault or the people’s fault. The blame belongs to everybody who lives in America. Like Obama said, it is an American problem. The way it is solved is through active participation in communities and reporting police misconduct right when it is seen. Holding everybody more accountable will lead to a more disciplined community. Police brutality can be seen from the comfort of your own home with a few key taps. It is a real issue effecting everybody and actions must be taken in order to rid American of one of its most infamous problems.

Works Cited

Akkoc, Raziye. “A Timeline of Police Attacks in the USA.” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media

Group, 03 Mar. 2015. Web. 02 May 2017.

Carbado, Devon W. “Blue-on-black violence: a provisional model of some of the causes.”

Georgetown Law Journal, Aug. 2016, p. 1479+. Academic OneFile, ez1.maricopa.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ez1.maricopa.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=mcc_chandler&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA481244341&asid=f07d0c307eb7441474251dda456b2c25. Accessed 1 May 2017.

Funke, Daniel, and Tina Susman. “From Ferguson to Baton Rouge: Deaths of Black Men and

Women at the Hands of Police.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2016. Web. 02 May 2017.

Grabiner, Gene. “Who polices the police?” Social Justice, vol. 43, no. 2, 2017, p. 58+. Academic

OneFile, ez1.maricopa.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ez1.maricopa.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=mcc_chandler&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA475324620&asid=9b3a6be17995f58fc2620557b56b226e. Accessed 1 May 2017.

May, Teneille. “Raw Footage: Police Brutality Compilation #14.” YouTube. YouTube, 06 July

Web. 02 May 2017.

Medina, Jennifer. “The L.A. Riots 25 Years Later: A Return to the Epicenter.” The New York

Times. The New York Times, 28 Apr. 2017. Web. 02 May 2017.

Pettersson, Tove. “Complaints as opportunity for change in encounters between youths

and police officers.” Social Inclusion, vol. 2, no. 3, 2014, p. 102+. Academic OneFile, ez1.maricopa.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ez1.maricopa.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=mcc_chandler&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA409715696&asid=002944ca3170fb30e3089652b0288308. Accessed 1 May 2017.

Purdom, Gwendolyn. “Widening the whistleblower’s reach.” The American Scholar, vol.

86, no. 1, 2017, p. 16+. Academic OneFile, ez1.maricopa.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ez1.maricopa.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=mcc_chandler&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA474655162&asid=070c99e6975384d088294845adddfa3a. Accessed 1 May 2017.

Sinyangwe, Samuel, Deray Mckesson, and Brittany Packnett. “Police Killed More than

100 Unarmed Black People in 2015.” Mapping Police Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2017.

TV, Ruptly. “USA: Unfair Police Treatment “an American Problem” – Obama.”

YouTube. N.p., 03 Dec. 2014. Web. 02 May 2017.

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Old and New Generations: Where They Place Their Devotion by Mckenna Crawford

admin — Tue, 02 May 2017 15:23:08 +0000

In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2014, it was discovered that only 36% of Americans who identify as Christian attend church on a monthly basis (Pew Research Center, 2016). That means that 64% of Christians in the United States attend church only a few times yearly. Only 27% of Millennials say they attend religious services on a weekly basis, compared with 51% of adults in generation Y. Only 18% of Millennials currently report attending religious services weekly or nearly weekly, compared with 26% of Boomers in the late 1970s (Pew Research Center, 2016). The largest generation in history, the Millennials, have the smallest church attendance in history. But why is this? What is causing this dramatic decline in devotion to church attendance each year? In American Gods, the author, Niel Gaiman, makes a clear portrayal of the many differences between the old and the new gods. “the new gods of credit card and freeway, of internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic, of beeper and neon.” Gaiman shows us that there are obvious differences between the old and new gods, but how are the old and new gods different when it comes to attention and devotion to their spiritual practices? Does this lessening of attention and devotion have to do with technological advances in society, or more to do with the way newer generations view the world?
In American Gods, Gaiman portrays the old gods to be more devoted to their beliefs. From the beginning, Wednesday showed a clear devotion to his ultimate goal; preparing for war. He has a goal that he has set for himself and he plans on achieving it. He had a clear focus on his goal throughout his entire journey in the book. More than 50% of baby boomers who identified as religious, claimed they participate in routine devotions to their spiritual beliefs (Pew Research Center). In our society, the older generations are statistically more devoted to their spiritual journeys. They pray more, attend church services more, and speak about their religious affiliations with others more than the millennial generation. The baby boomers also had less distractions from their responsibilities and religious practices. Unlike millennials, they had great responsibilities and few technological distractions.
What is the reason behind the older generations being more devoted to their spiritual goals in life? For one thing, people who are a part of the Baby Boomer generation, and generation Y have a longer attention span than people who a part of the millennial generation. A survey conducted by Microsoft confirmed generational differences for mobile use; for example, 77% of people aged 18 to 24 responded “yes” when asked, “When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone,” compared with only 10% of those over the age of 65 (Microsoft Research, 2016) The average attention span of today’s youth is eight seconds. Although there is no definitive attention span in seconds for previous generations, we do know that they have a longer attention span when it comes to analyzing slides presented to them (Microsoft Research, 2016). Scientists believe that this is because their brains developed without the influence of quick images and videos on social media through smart phones. The millennials and generation Z have grown up with social media and quick videos as entertainment. These young people have no use for a long attention span. They don’t have to sit through a four minute YouTube video, they can just skip ahead. Millennials don’t even have to listen to an entire album anymore, instead of adjusting the stylus on a record player, they can just click the skip button on their cell phones if they don’t like one of the songs on the album they are listening to. The question is this; is the absence of advanced technology in the lives of older generations the reason that the baby boomers show more devotion and attention to everyday activities? Is their longer attention span one of the reasons they are the routine church goers?
In American Gods, the new gods are portrayed as more material loving beings. They are the gods of new technology like credit cards, phone, and internet. Because of this, they are very different from the old gods. But when you look at the new gods in more depth, you begin to notice that the new gods are different from the old gods, not just when it comes to material things, but when it comes to spiritual devotion as well. The new gods were devoted to their goals, but they weren’t nearly as focused on the endpoint as much as Wednesday was. This description of the new gods is almost exactly the description of a millennial. Statistically, the majority of millennials will say that they value experiences more than they value material possessions (Pew Research Center). But many will argue that this is untrue. While it might be true that millennials value experiences, it is also true that millennials very much value material possessions, like investing in the newest iPhone. The younger generation places a significant amount of value on the way they are perceived by their peers. Because of this, the younger generation is putting a lot of their focus on things other than spiritual development and religious growth. Millennials are focused less on religious practices and more focused on material possessions. We can easily contrast the way of the new gods with the way of millennials in today’s society and their spiritual devotion.
Only 18% of Millennials currently report attending religious services weekly or nearly weekly, compared with 26% of Boomers in the late 1970s (Pew Research Center, 2016). The largest generation in history has the smallest church attendance in history. But why is this? Why are the millennials so uninterested with practicing devotion to a spiritual life? According to research, millennials see practicing routine religion, like Christianity, an inconvenience. Studies also show that the decline in millennials attending church services is due to their short attention span. Millennials are great at worshipping though. They are devoted to worshiping their smart phones, their televisions, and their favorite celebrities. Millennials have no problem being devoted to material things, so what is causing their increased lack of devotion to their goals, and spiritual developments. Millennials are not so different from the new gods in American Gods. Their attention has been shifted from higher powers to material needs.
In American Gods, a contrast is given between the old and new gods. The way they value material things, the way they approach goals, and the way they show devotion are completely different. These old and new gods value completely different things in life. The way that they choose to live their life are influenced by the people and possessions they are surrounded by and value. It is no different when it comes to generational differences. What we as humans choose to devote our attention to makes all the difference. It makes us who we are. The old generations show more devotion to spiritual things like church and prayer, while the new generations show more devotion to material and technological possessions. There are constantly advancements and changes in our society, it is the way that we, as a society, choose to adapt to those changes that really matter.

Works Cited
Anyfantis, Ioannis. “Towards artificial intelligence. possibilities and psycho-philosophical issues.” European Scientific Journal, vol. 11, no. 9, 2015, p. 39+. Academic OneFile, ez1.maricopa.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=AONE&sw=w&u=mcc_chandler&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA410771077&it=r&asid=c6 32ed01ea9a19bcacba53498f12fb78. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.
Ontra, AlexAndra. Networking Times. N.p., 19 Nov. 2016. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.
Patton, Eileen. “How Millennials Are Different from the Baby Boomers ”
Pew Research Center. Eileen Patin, 11 Apr. 2017. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.
Pogue, David. “The touch screen generation.” Scientific American, vol. 313, no. 2, 2015, p. 29. Academic OneFile, ez1.maricopa.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=AONE&sw=w&u=mcc_chandler&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA432339538&it=r&asid=58 9bdcbfa66c99f12c9f0df7f00e918. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.
Reinke, Tony. “Split Rocks, Open Tombs, Raised Bodies.” Desiring God. Tony Reinke, 18 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.
Schenk, Leslie. “Attention Spans.” World Literature Today, vol. 72, no. 1, 1998, p. 141. Academic OneFile, ez1.maricopa.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=AONE&sw=w&u=mcc_chandler&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA20615136&it=r&asid=e98 b42f5a0b9a22f8ea3eadd06d2e9c9. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.

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