One step towards the right direction

Jordan Puicon

October 26, 2014

Blog # 6

Professor Draegan

One step towards the right direction

            I’m glad to say that I think the changes are for the better. Changes are always happening throughout history. It is up to us to make changes for the better or for the worse. I noticed more people are standing up for the homosexual community. I noticed this more in social media then anything else like in YouTube videos. Many gay YouTubers have been respected and been inspiration to others because they voice whatever comes to mind and I think that’s awesome.

 The support from people is increasing each year and more people are accepting the idea of homosexuality. Choosing a different sex is a choice and something that people shouldn’t be ridiculed for. Now we see less homophobic people each generation that move us forwards towards the brighter future.

            I’m glad that same sex marriages are taking place in certain states. Not all of them unfortunately but it’s a start. Being gay isn’t something people should fear and more people are realizing that. I’m still appalled that they’re people in this world that would still judge people for their personal taste in same sex. For example, the preacher who said all homosexuals will go to hell/ that is a statement that should be kept for them because that really hurt someone’s feelings. People don’t realize or don’t care that verbal abuse can be just as bad as physical abuse.

This is my own personal opinion on” Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination”. While this is written in the bible, wasn’t the bible written by man not god? The bible was translated by God but who is to say everyone he translated is 100% what god has said? I think we should use the bible as a reference in our lives like thou shall not steal or something in that nature. The bible has helped me through hard times with all its wonderful information but I don’t live my life by every single word in the bible. I think we shouldn’t reference everything from the bible because something may seem wrong. Why would God inflict pain towards two people who love each other? If you believe everything that’s in the bible, that’s completely fine but don’t force your views towards others. Why would you make your views superior versus other people?

For example, while watching the video in the daily writing, I noticed that the preacher was ranting about what he believed in but as soon as people stepped in a non-violet way, he responded by saying this is “something peculiar is happening here” . I believe he did it for the attention because he didn’t’ know how to respond when the students sung to him. Overall, I don’t mind anyone voicing their opinion because that makes us unite and collaborate ideas. One thing I don’t like when people belittle other people ideas and we should stop doing this because I don’t think any God would want that.

Resources:

Mosbergen, Dominique. "Anti-Gay Preacher's Message Of Hate Drowned Out By Students' Hymn About Love." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/18/students-protest-preacher-song-jmu_n_5843586.html>.

"Leviticus 18:22 "'Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.." Leviticus 18:22 "'Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014. <http://biblehub.com/leviticus/18-22.htm>.

Cognitive biases

How can cognitive biases affect society?

I believe our brain has the capacity of doing so much. People have proven that the brain can do countless things that could benefit the world. According to the article, the brain goes beyond any computer that is currently available because it can process things a lot faster but our brain has limitations that restrict us from doing so many things. A simple calculator could thousands of math problems while we struggle with a few.  Our memories also fade away very easily if we don’t keep track of them, so how does cognitive biases affect our daily lives?

I understand a mixture of In-group bias and confirmation bias very well. I rarely bias towards other people opinions or what group they were around but I realized especially in Republicans states that people look down at other views that aren’t similar towards theirs. I understand it can be very difficult to look at someone views in their shoes instead of yours but people tend to feel like their opinion is superior then yours. I meet many people that would like to express their views and thoughts but don’t let you express your views. I found myself having trouble in school because my taste and style was different from the majority of people. Just because I didn’t dress a certain way or didn’t like a certain type of music, people didn’t want to take the time to know me. I started to realize people stereotyped you by what you wore or by who you hanged out with. This happened frequently with many people I knew, I started to think in order to be “cool” I need to wear a certain brand that many people wore and needed to listen to certain artist that were popular at the time. The pressure escalated in high school and I thought it was more of a necessity to “fit in”.

 Another example would be just because I didn’t do any drugs or drink, many people would judge me and instead of respecting my decision, they would peer pressure me in doing it. I found this occurring to many people in our society; many people start doing drugs not by themselves but by peer influences. Many people argue that peer influences have a big affect in the youth drug use. These could be resolved if people respected our people views and didn’t peer pressure people in things they didn’t want to do.

I think these biases could be very hurtful towards adolescences because it makes them feel inferior if they didn’t do certain things and if they’re not “cool” then people tend to not the take to know you for who you really are. We should expand our group by inviting people in then making the group we have stronger. Many of my friends are people that I didn’t agree with at first but as I started to know them I realized how much a good friend they really are. If we all listened instead of speak then the world would be a better place for all.  

Resource:

Dvorsky, George . "The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational." io9. N.p., 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://io9.com/5974468/the-most-common-cognitive-biases-that-prevent-you-from-being-rational>.

Daily writing #12

Who is really trying to help us?

               

United States is known for people to teach a certain way especially in Republican based states like Arizona. When educators try to encounter another method for the benefit of students, people will judge. Mexican American Studies (MAS) was a class that I read about it and was a class that I would be excited to take because it’s different from the classes I usually take. For John Huppenthal (the superintendent of the schools in Arizona) to take away the class because he feels like it’s a class to resent Caucasian people seems very absurd to me. The class was to teach students to provide a voice and to teach them about independency. John Huppenthal blames the teachers because of the resentment from students but I think the students are finally sticking what they believe in and what is wrong with that?  Students can finally be aware what the government is actually doing like banning a class. I think Huppenthal wants us to be blinded from the truth and keeps us ignorant so we can’t justify and criticize the actions of the government.

           

He also claims that the class presents ethic conflict and discrimination in U.S in a biased way. If he claims the class to bias then why won’t he ban other classes that are biased? For example, World history books have been known to be very biased towards the Islamic people.  Many textbooks show lack of important information about Islamic terrorist especially on 9/11 which could change someone’s opinion completely. I also noticed the articles I read about the government thoughts about certain books being “biased” because they favor other countries are actually not biased. In fact, the articles I read about the government’s opinion are very misleading and are very one-sided. They angle the conversations so you can see their views but don’t show the opposing side. The history books itself can be very evasive; it also doesn’t help the history books are made by all Caucasian males.

Overall I think Huppenthal shouldn’t ban a class because he feels intimidated by students speaking out. He should at least let them vote or ask them why they want the class because if he takes actions in his own hands, students may feel powerless because they didn’t get there opinion in it. That’s why I think many people are frustrated by this because they decide what doesn’t happen in school and what does happen in schools and that’s  why Republicans that have shown to be very biased and favoring Christianity which is completely wrong. American should be not favor anything because we are all different and we should embrace that. We shouldn’t accept people who they are and don’t judge people because they have different view then us. I experienced people criticize what I had to say because they feel like their views are better than mine and I think that’s also wrong. I found this random quote on Facebook that guided me to become a better person, “Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness; you will get your own happiness.”

Resources:

"Proposed Texas Textbooks Are Full of Progressive Bias, Says Curriculum Accuracy Expert." Breitbart News Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/09/15/Proposed-Texas-Textbooks-Are-Full-of-Progressive-Bias-Says-Curriculum-Accuracy-Expert>.

"Arizona Official Considers Targeting Mexican American Studies in University."Fox News Latino. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/03/28/arizona-official-considers-targeting-mexican-american-studies-in-university/>.

"Does High School Textbook Have Islamic Bias?." Todd Starnes. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/does-high-school-textbook-have-islamic-bias.html>.

"Arizona Official Considers Targeting Mexican American Studies University"

Is American really the land of the free?

In any sense, we shouldn’t ban the youth from any books unless it has tragic instances or purely shows hate towards the government or anyone else. The books that are supposedly implying to overrun our government are being banned for that reason but these books have inspired people to provide a voice for what you believe in. Voices that help you stand for your opinions and to defend yourself from the racist ignorant people in this world. The government also banned over eighty books all at the same time and some classes were removed because the books were vital for the course.                

                The curriculum was Mexican American Studies (MAS) at Tucson Unified school District, for this act to happen so close from where we live, scares me. MAS was used to provide critical thinking and focused on Mexican-American history and literature.  Many supporters admired the program because it provided higher graduation rates and state- commissioned audit that advocated for expansion of the program. All these benefits coming from a single program, why would our government that suppose to keep us protected, ban this course? They stated that the teachers were “encouraging students to dislike white people” , which the teachers denied.     

 I believe the government doesn’t want the Mexican Americans to start pursing their own ideas because it can be against what the government is doing. I necessarily don’t think that’s a bad idea because we all have our own opinions and the government’s approach definitely isn’t the way to do it. Like you said before, it can be challenging at times to teach us an assignment that can’t integrate your opinion. I feel MAS shouldn’t be banned because the government thinks the teachers are teaching them to resent white people, if you look at other classes they show resentment towards a certain ethnic group. According to another article I read, Margaret Duran wanted the students to know Republicans don’t hate Latinos but the students were irritable because they couldn’t voice their opinion and left the assembly. Attorney General Tom Horne questioned MAS which teachers taught students about free speech, but why couldn’t they voice their opinions? That would make the speech very one-sided and biased if the students that Margaret trying convince cant response to what she’s saying.

Occupied American represents that theory and shows if you say what you stand for and then people will respect what you have to say. Occupying American is one of the main voices for the Chicano Americans that live in the U.S. The book shows the Chicano history in their perspective that shows many things that the history books missed. The reason why I like this books and was appalled when I saw it banned because it shows a different viewpoint that I never thought of when learning this in my history course. I realized how biased our history books really are and learned not to judge everything single thing my teacher says. I used to think history books were 100% fact and didn’t have no opinions but books like these are essential for the youth because it opens a part of your mind that will help you later on in life.

Resources:

Planas, Roque. "Arizona's Law Banning Mexican-American Studies Curriculum Is Constitutional, Judge Rules." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

"Ethnic Studies Myths." Tucson Weekly. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.