Category: Perspective

Suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people ages 15 to 24 (Stanford Children’s hospital). Suicide rates are increasing and talking about suicide is no where to be seen in society. Suicide is the act of killing oneself. There is a need for talks for mental health more now than ever in this world especially to the youth, some schools have speakers come and talk to teens about suicide but its been shown to have little help, so teens need more people that have the ability to have talks about suicide and can help those in need eventhough teens don’t really know what needing help looks like. Many of those who need help don’t open up for fear of how they’ll be looked at becasue suicide is a taboo topic. While screenings can be wrong, many people don’t know what the signs of suicide look like, suicide should become a normal part of health screenings or life because suicide is seen as a taboo topic of conversation, which has lead to suicide becoming one of the leading causes of teen death which can be prevented.

First, a main issue facing teen suicide is that many are under educated on what suicide and Mental illness looks like. Mental illness is a mental disorder the afflicts your mental health. An example of this is that kids have to much pressure on them says Denise Pope of Stanford University “I’ve spoken with many kids who tell me, ‘I’m studying as hard as I can and my parents are saying I just need to study harder.’ These kids stay up all night and focus 100 percent on schoolwork to get ahead,” (NeaToday). This shows that kids are being pushed beyond their limits, stressing them out, which is leading them to worsen their mental health leading them to be more likely to be depressed. Mental health is the well being of your mind. Another example that kids have way too much pressure on them was found when Kathy Reamy a school counselor said “There’s just so much going on in this day and age, the pressures to fit in, the pressure to achieve, the pressure of social media. And then you couple that with the fact that kids can’t even feel safe in their schools—they worry genuinely about getting shot—and it all makes it so much harder to be a teenager.” (NeaToday). These kinds of things push teens to worsen the state of their mental health. Teens all use social media to feel like teens are a part of everything that’s going on and get the most amount of likes for that small amount of dopamine for that temporary validation. Not meeting the expectation of the attention you thought you’d get for your post, leads some of us to isolate ourselves from the real world, because all teens seek is that validation. In the rise of what’s become the worst time for school shootings post columbine, many of us go to school and live in fear that teens could be the next national headline. Teens also are coupled with the pressure to fit in and be like everyone else, but then teens don’t really feel like they’re theirselves, these years are supposed to be used to make teens their own person, and not a carbon copy of what is hot, those who try be themselves end up isolated from everyone else. Teens in high school are met with the growing pressure to achieve, high school students are meant with cracking down and deciding their future and where they want to go to make their future dreams a reality, added with the fact where they want to go has standards the students have to meet.

Next, an issue is that many don’t have access to mental health screenings because normal health screenings that most people have access to don’t have a mental health aspect. There are many schools trying to implement mental health screenings within the school say like with Elizabeth Minnie, from a school in Austin, Texas. Minnie who is recalling old times with a former student, for the case of newcomer it helped her a lot, it gave her someone that could advocate for her needs to her teachers and parents (Washington Post). A system like this works as you can see, teens don’t want to open up to parents and kids directly, but having that middle man to help leads to teens being able to open up more, which leads to those who wouldn’t open up to be able to. Another problem that society is running into is the lack of counselors in school, to meet the growing need for the increasing student population. This is shown by the student to counselor to student ratio being on average four hundred-eighty-two to one (EdWeekly.org). The population is only growing so this ratio is only going to rise, so teens will be missing out on the ability to talk about their future and how they feel. Having the ability to have someone to help guide you on the path that will help lead to what you wanna do in life would help teens be less stress and worried about the future a problem that faces all teens. The amount of counselors in schools is far too low to effectively reach all those that want and need help, society has many teens who are lost and don’t know what to do to be farther in life, these teens are lost in life and are drowning in the expectations of others which are making them more susceptible to fall to mental illness, to far worse it could end in suicide.

Also, another problem facing teens are that they either do not know how to or do not want to talk about how they feel. Many parents don’t know how to start the conversation. Rhonda Boyd a clinical psychologist with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has stated ‘We identified that really large numbers of parents were unaware that their youth were thinking about killing themselves, and 75 percent did not know their kids were thinking a lot about death and dying,’” (TCA Regional News). The silence facing many teens make them feel like they’re all alone, they don’t wanna be alone but they don’t know who they can trust so they stay silent. Society needs to open up the conversation of suicide to a new place, we currently view it as a taboo. Teens also stay silent because their parents tend to try guide and give advice instead of listen to their teens, Jordan Burnham, a suicide survior says ‘I know for some parents, the immediate reaction is to give some guidance, give some feedback, but in all honesty, a lot of kids just want to be heard,”(The Philadelphia Inquirer) and “’The unfortunate thing I hear over and over again from students is their parents are invalidating their feelings and what they’re going through.”’ (The Philadelphia Inquirer). These quotes show that teens tend to suffer in silence because they prefer it to be guided through with information that doesn’t help, because many parents don’t wanna see their kids suffer and want to help them, even though they don’t understand.

Although, many people see a complete other way to approach this, everyone wants the problem of suicide to reach an end. Many people see no need for mental health screenings for teens, they think the teens are just being lazy, over dramatic, or just wanting attention, yet this isn’t true teens have the same complex emotions as adults and have the same ability to fall mentally ill. People also see the use of mental health screenings in schools as an invasion of privacy, however his also would have an easy way to avoid, by having parents consent to the meetings in schools before they happen. Many think suicide is taboo and is not a topic that needs to be talked about openly, but in reality many people have these kinds of thoughts in people of all ages, so to devalue those younger who suffer from these thoughts are just immoral, everyone should be able to feel safe in how they feel. Parents often misjudge the importance of mental health blowing it off like the kids are just making things up, although the parents are often the cause of some of their teens mental health problems, from their silence to the amount of pressure they crumble under and fall mentally ill to.

Finally, while screenings can be wrong, many people don’t know what the signs of suicide look like, suicide should become a normal part of health screenings or life because suicide is seen as a taboo topic of conversation, which has lead to suicide becoming one of the leading causes of teen death which can be prevented. Many people suffer from losing to suicide, shouldn’t we all want to reach an end to this plague of mental health issues. There are so many different causes for this problem, that we all need to work together to better the world. So shouldn’t we all wanna reach the end of this problem, that is ending so many lives.

Works cited:

1. Girodano, Rita. “Many Parents Whose Teens Have Thought About Suicide Don’t Know It…” TCA Regional News, 14 Jan. 2019.
2. Leffler, David. “Mental-Health Clinics at Schools Show Their Value.” The Washington Post, The Washington Post, 20 Aug. 2019, explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2321927911?accountid=66001.
3. Khadaroo, Stacy. “Teen Suicide: Prevention Is Contagious, Too.” The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Dec. 2013, www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2013/1208/Teen-suicide-Prevention-is-contagious-too.
4. Posner, Kelly. “Preventing Suicide: Teen Deaths Are on the Rise, but We Know How to Fight Back.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 7 Feb. 2018
5. Fuschillo, Alanna. “The Troubling Student-to-Counselor Ratio That Doesn’t Add Up.” Education Week, 20 Feb. 2019, www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/08/14/the-troubling-student-to-counselor-ratio-that-doesnt-add.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news1&M=58578827&U=1001093.

The word utopia is based on Greek where ou means ‘not’ and topos means ‘place,’ therefore it is not a place. Widely known, Dictionary.com for definitions says as a noun, utopia means, “an imaginary island described in Sit Thomas More’s Utopia as enjoying perfection in law, politics, etc.” Its secondary definition says, “an ideal place or state.” And its third definition says, “any visionary system of political or social perfection.” Despite the fact that utopia is normally defined as an imaginary island enjoying in perfection in law and politics, but a more accurate definition would be an imagined place where everything and every detail of a person’s life is to their ideal personal aesthetics because a utopia should not only be about perfect law and politics, or being a perfect city, but also protecting and projecting your values.

As defined before using Dictionary.com, utopia is defined twice in relation with, “perfect law and politics.” A utopia should not always be connected to a fantasy that includes life with a perfect system of laws and government. This is because to others their utopia might not have anything to do with laws and politics and instead wish to be free of those restrictions and live their lives to their own appealing views. It’s not critical to a person whether or not their imaginary world has law and politics imbedded into it simply because the creator of their utopia has the right to choose what is and is not of most importance to their own fantasy. Instead they can focus on other personal and valued aesthetics because as Dictionary.com secondarily more accurately defined utopia as, “an ideal place or state.” If utopia was thought more as a part of this definition, people would focus less on law and politics unlike the other definitions and focus on their personal aesthetics instead. A person’s utopia should focus on this aesthetics through their high standards and symmetry so that they can pay particular attention to a fantasy away from the imperfect laws and politics we are facing today.

Charles Zarka, in the Opinionator of The New York Times, says, “The island of Utopia is somewhere else, not only because it has no assignable location in the known world, even if its spatial and local dimensions are clearly marked, but also because it is a perfect city,” because to everyone their utopias location is unknown due to its perfectionism that does not exist in todays corrupted world and current unstable cities. In todays society an important limitation to a person’s ideal state or place is law and politics. These two factors in the real world are what keep many people from achieving success and is why it should instead be encouraged to create an idealistic utopia while avoiding these limitations or eliminating them completely since they are what is keeping a person from living their dreams at peace in the first place. Although, avoiding politics when creating a personal utopia does not come easy for many people, especially since as Charles Zarka mentioned, “At the end of the modern world, in the 20th century, utopia became political.” Today many decisions are made strictly on politics and on who benefits the most from any given situation. For those who are heavily involved in politics and view it as something they love would be of an exception to incorporating law and politics in their utopia because living in a world of politics would likely be appealing to them in their utopia and unavoidable.

A utopia should also focus on one’s personal values because those values are the base of why the decisions made are being implicated at all times in their world. Carol Kolmerten speaks about how values between men and women are viewed traditionally and says, “Traditionally, fathers have presided over families, over nations, over all of society’s valued institutions,” to remind others of how the role of a man in seen in todays society. Men do this by paying the bills for their family, seen as presidents or political roles for their nation, and heavily influencing institutions of politics, economy, religion, and education. Kolemerten also says, “Traditional women’s work of raising children—arguably the most important task of a culture—has almost always been devalued or ‘ghettoized’ by its separation from the paid workforce.” Unfortunately, some people in our society believe that women do not have the right to stay home and watch their children grow while being their teacher. They believe that women should contribute to society by working and contributing taxes just as the men are. The way society judges who is more valuable than the other can be implemented in the way someone creates their valued utopia. A person’s values are an important part of their utopia because they can influence decisions from financial situations to their influences in institutions or whether or not their choice of career should be much of importance.

Utopia can be usually defined as imaginary island with perfect law and politics or an ideal state or place. Although, instead it should be defined as an imagined place where everything and every detail of a person’s imaginary island is to their ideal personal aesthetics.

Competition in sports has mainly been emphasized throughout the creation of sports. When people generally think about sport stars and Olympic stars the general picture individuals paint are male superstars. The popularity ratio between males and females has increased for female athletes many years after the passing of the Title IX law. Not only has the Title IX law reduce the discrimination of any individual in any education program or activity but it has allowed female athletes to showcase their abilities and receive greater recognition in a male dominated industry.

Women are now playing sports in a much higher rate than before the Title IX law was passed . Before the 1970’s few teams for women existed in the sports world and athletic careers were primarily limited to cheerleading. Scholarships for women were rarely heard of. Title IX expanded women’ activity in high school and college sports. Millions of American girls take part in high-school athletic sports. At the collegiate level, there are several hundreds of women’s varsity teams that compete. Basketball has become the most popular sport between college women along with soccer. Despite the journey women have taken to find equality in their fight to fairness in sports, they still face major hurdles. Critics also face that the occasion girls do, they receive minor interest to those provided boys. Female facilities and uniforms often are of subpar quality, they also reason that girls are sometimes forced to play in or practice in unfit conditions to make way for the boys’ teams to succeed. Society has deemed for boys to play sports as a right to play while women must claw and fight for an equal chance at playing the same exact sport whether it is women based or an attempt to merge into men dominated sports such a football. Although women shouldn’t be forced to withstand the great physicality of such sports like football, but their interests should at least make it fair for a woman to play in a male dominated league if she chooses to. Even at the Olympic level opportunities for women are restricted as well, women do not have enough participation to compete in some sports leading to once again, males dominating another category.

The fight for equality between the two sexes will truly never come to a standstill because of several different factors. For example, the popularity rate for women sports is still below average only because the strengths of the sexes greatly differ. Women’s basketball and women’s soccer differ from men’s basketball and soccer because the men are more athletic, faster, and stronger. For women their strengths come from individuality, the most popular women sports are tennis and gymnastics because of the ability to show off individual talent from the women’s talent. Some people argue that “women’s sports are not entertaining enough”. Over the years the popularity of women’s sports has been increasing, unfortunately the media coverage and spending dollars haven’t necessarily followed through and gender equality remains a big issue in the sports world A debate that can be controversial is that men always being better than women at playing any sport seems to make sense. It can be seen through unreliable evidence that this can be a tad bit factual. Many times, I’ve heard women express themselves about playing because they “aren’t good enough.” compared to the male standard. It can also be seen simply in how the body formation of men and women are so much different. Once again as there are certainly many women who can beat men in male dominant games such as street basketball, men are typically taller and stronger than women. This is caused by all sorts of testosterone and strong muscles in their upper body of the male rather than fatty deposits that women possess. When someone points that out it’s easy for people to assume that boys are better at sports than girls. They look at it as an inheritable trait linked to their genetics.

Even with many different nations that have cultural and religious barriers that still limit the participation of women in sports, the realistic emotions kindled by the Olympic Games and world championships associated with the media content of these events increase these limitations, in many cases even nations that do not approve of female participation in sports reunite around the specific female Olympic champion. In these monumental moments, loyalty to respective countries replace the conflict of gender roles and sometimes equality. Sports are a global cultural potluck. As future societies become more divided because of the combination of race and ethnicities, groups and businesses become a part of a global commerce and experience, sports become one of the small number activities that can focus on a common population on a common interest that excels the stereotypes and barriers that divide human beings and their ego rather than bring them together. When women achieve in sports their legacy and loyalty to their country spikes with increase, pressure is laid on partial belief that a female athlete is less capable of a support system, less productive or have less importance than their male athlete counterparts and the fable spread that gender diversity in sports beginning to vanish.

The natural is what can be sensed on this Earth, but what do we consider the things that go bump in the night? The door that creaks when nobody is there, the footsteps you hear to turn around and find nobody behind you, the voices you hear, and more are all experiences that are considered supernatural. These encounters are widely unaccepted because it goes against our idea of reality. The reality of the supernatural is hidden to the human eye because of the lack of acceptance of others’ dark emotions. Poe uses the supernatural in order to project his inner thoughts while using his own life experiences as inspiration.

Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be one of the most famous gothic writers, which begins leaving people with questions, such as where his creativity stems from. Poe’s life was extremely depressing, which helped inspire his creepy and unique style of writing, leading to his fame. One example of a similarity between Poe’s life and his literature is in “The Masquerade of the Red Death.” In this story, a common man is being haunted by a deadly infestation called the red death. The symptoms of the disease were excruciating pain, dizziness, and blood seeping from pores. The disease is very similar to tuberculosis, which was a very important disease in Poe’s life considering this mother and wife died from the disease. Another motivation towards his creative style is alcohol. Poe’s depression and madness lead him towards heavy drinking. In the story “The Black Cat”, the narrator attacks and injures his cat because he is under the influence of alcohol, which is supported by the quotation, “One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him… The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer… I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!” (Poe 5). The quotation shows how his drunkenness causes destruction towards the things he loves. It is apparent in many of his stories and poems that his past traumas had a huge impact on his strange, gothic writing style.

Similarly, Poe uses his psychological traumas and disorders in order to convey the supernatural themes and characters in many of his stories. From the beginning, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is given a supernatural and unusual atmosphere. The mansion is referred to as melancholy, which could be interpreted as the house being in a state of depression, as seen in the quotation “With the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible.” (Poe 1). The quotation describes how the narrator was feeling when first encountering the house, which was hopelessness and doom. Poe also incorporates mental illness in the story when describing Roderick, the owner who became one with the house. He reads a poem called “The Haunted Palace”, which describes his madness and instability. A stanza from the poem “And travellers now within that valley, Through the red-litten windows see Vast forms that move fantastically To a discordant melody; While, like a rapid ghastly river, Through the pale door, A hideous throng rush out forever, And laugh—but smile no more.” (Poe 15) is used to describe the isolation and emotional distress that Roderick feels after losing his twin sister. In the end, the reader acknowledges that Roderick was linked with the house and can conclude that Roderick’s depression and isolation caused the house and himself to be torn down. The supernatural drove him to madness, leading to his downfall.

Poe uses natural beings to portray unnatural feelings in “The Black Cat”. The black cat that lives with the narrator is seen as supernatural, causing the fear from the wife. Supported by the quotation, “…my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.” (Poe 4), relates to the wife’s fear that the cat was involved in witchcraft and was also disguised as something it really wasn’t. The cat’s name was Pluto, which is known to Greek mythology as the king of the underworld. The name of the cat is used to promote the theme of death in the story. The theme of supernatural is consistent throughout this story, even supernaturalness being supported by the title, since there are many superstitions involving witchcraft and black cats. In the story, the narrator kills his cat by hanging it in a tree and cutting his left eye out. After murdering his beloved cat, the narrator was followed with nothing but bad luck, such as his house burning down. While going through what was left of his house, another black cat appears and the narrator hears the cries from the cat, claiming they came from its grave. The quotation “But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb!—by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman—a howl—a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.” (Poe 14), describes how hearing the cat’s cries drove the narrator insane and also convinced him that the cat was a demon. In reality, the black cat symbolizes the narrator’s soul, which is slowly being deteriorated by his abuse of alcohol.

In conclusion, Poe uses the ideas of the supernatural to reflect his internal thoughts and feelings to the world. Many things that are not considered natural on the Earth are used as main characters in Poe’s writings, and are also symbols of his insanity. The past traumas of his life are considered to be the inspiration behind his famous works. According to “The Supernatural Psychology of Edgar Allan Poe.” Poe used the supernatural in order to portray many psychological diseases, such as social anxiety and madness. For example, the diseases of depression and madness are portrayed in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by using a possessed house as the main aspect. The house is used to symbolize the narrator’s inner feelings and thoughts, which is proved when the house crashes as Roderick dies. Similarly, Poe uses the superstition of black cats to portray the theme of death. Witchcraft is also a major characteristic that conveys the message of the supernatural in “The Black Cat”. Lastly, Poe uses his psychological disorders to convey his dark thoughts and strike fear through the reader.

Truth, in metaphysics and science philosophy, the property of sentences, assertions, beliefs, thoughts or propositions that are said to agree with the facts or state what is the case in ordinary discourse.

Truth is the belief’s goal; logical fallacy is a fault. Citizens need the world’s reality to survive. It is important to know the truth. Believing that which is not true is capable of spoiling the plans of a person and may even cost him his life. It can lead to legal and social penalties to say what is not true. By contrast, the good scientist, the good historian, and the good detective are characterized by a dedicated pursuit of truth. So what is truth, it ought to have such gravity and such a central place in the lives of people?

What is subjective truth? Subjective truth is the type truth in which truth is derived through beliefs of opinion.

What is objective truth? This kind of truth is based on facts or are generally accepted things.

Reality is influenced by the beliefs, ideas, perceptions, and emotions of an individual, much like reality. Truth and reality, however, are not the same thing. Reality is the environment in which we live, while truth is the thing that helps people form their reality. Facts are widely accepted as true for truth to exist. Without some kind of truth in their lives, a person can not live a life. There is only deception if there is no truth-a false fact that can not exist. Everyone has an understanding of what they think is true. Since everyone is unable to describe reality objectively, it can only be inferred that truth is subjective. There are things everyone can accept to be real, like the belief we’re born, we’re alive, and we’re going to die. But aside from that, there are a number of different things that can be argued to be true such as the idea of heaven and hell, whether there is life outside of Earth, and so on. So by that thought, truth cannot be viewed as something objective. For something to be objective, everyone must agree it. If it there is one individual that thinks differently, it must be viewed as subjective. Truth is the idea that people understand that it is true on the basis of their concepts, ideas, experiences, knowledge and emotions that shape their reality, although not everyone will agree.

Human nature is to adapt to its environment, be it physical or societal. People are constantly redefining concepts that are considered to be valid, so it is wrong to say the truth is something that is purely factual. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t question everything we think is true. Instead, this is an invitation by ideologies and evidence to back up our accepted truths. Just because someone says something is wrong with you doesn’t mean you’re wrong. Continuously defining ourselves and what is right and wrong is in our nature as human beings. It is in our best interest to be open to understanding different views rather than judging others by what we believe to be true. To broaden and understand the different ways we can view the world, we need to be open to the thoughts of others. David Brooks’s article from the New York Times “Human Nature Redux” speaks to the nature of human nature. There are two arguments against human nature. The two arguments come from Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau argues that people are born free, but that they are chained by society. He believes that society is corrupting humans as a result. On the other hand, Hobbes argues that human beings are born evil by nature and that to civilize man, a third party must be set up. Hobbes sees human nature as a competition, the ‘you vs. me’ idea. Man is kept in line by having a third party, like government, thereby establishing a progressive society. What is the essence of human nature, the argument we are trying to decode here? Brooks and Hobbes sides. He states, ‘Humans are struggling for hegemony and rejecting progressive egalitarian dreams.’ Moreover, he says, ‘this is based on the idea that there is a universal human nature; that it has nasty, competitive elements about which we do not understand much, and that the conventions and institutions that have evolved prevent us from slitting each other’s throats are valuable and altered at great risk.’

Personally, I don’t see why it matters. I don’t believe it makes a difference as to whether Rousseau or Hobbes is correct. In my opinion, the argument can be made that they are both correct. Rousseau has a point that government can corrupt people. However, Hobbes can be argued to be correct in the case that everyday government keeps man from doing chaotic things, sending wrongdoers in society into prisons. Both parties can be viewed correct just by looking at several different instances throughout history.

The irony of human nature is that without society, man can’t live, and without man, society can’t survive. Human nature has its flaws, but the same is true of society. Society and man have to work together to find a happy medium that keeps society out of control. By this logic, we search for facts rather than something set in stone. We as humans are beings of adaptation. Every day, man constantly forms his idea of reality and truth. It would be wrong to say we live in a world where reality is set in stone. Man believed at one point that the world was flat. Nevertheless, when someone realized that the world was round, man adapted the truth.

So I agree that there is truth and truth can be found through experience for example, we were told that if we put our hand in fire it will burn even though it is something that is proven we can also acquire this knowledge through personal experience that is actually putting our hand in fire to find out whether there it actually burns or not.

The digital age has resulted in various issues associated with privacy. Humanity has, in general, become obsessed with celebrities. Cover stories involving celebrities have become headlines in newspapers, and this has resulted in celebrities losing their right to privacy. Stories about celebrities have flooded the internet. Celebrities cannot date in secret, and their life is constantly being monitored by both the media and the general public. While every individual has a right to privacy, the right seems to be limited to ordinary people who are not celebrities. When an individual becomes famous, the general public becomes obsessed with their private life. People are always in constant pursuit of information about their favorite celebrities. However, celebrities are just ordinary people who have become famous. Just like any other person, celebrities deserve to have their right to privacy respected. Invasion of their privacy by the media and social media users is unethical. The right to privacy is one of the fundamental rights that individuals have fought hard to have. Various policies have been dropped due to privacy issues. Celebrities should hence enjoy their right to privacy as enshrined in the Constitution.

The right to privacy that is accorded to every citizen should not be lost through acquiring celebrity status. The right to privacy restricts the government and private individuals from intrusion into their privacy (Tang & Baumeister, 1984). The right to privacy also seeks to prevent the public from scrutinizing one’s personal information. While the right has not been expressly stated in the constitution, the right to privacy is protected by various laws. Laws that have been made in the United States have been made with respect to the citizens’ right to privacy. An example is the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The law seeks to protect an individual’s health information (Kiss, 2017). Celebrities are citizens too, and hence their right to privacy should be obeyed. In intruding into a celebrity’s personal life, one ignores the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. The intrusion of one’s privacy cannot be condoned, and as a result, the celebrity should have the right to be left alone and to undertake their normal lives without constant interruption and surveillance.

A breach of privacy can have serious consequences for an individual. A privacy breach alludes to the act of individuals accessing one’s personal information. Personal information may have different definitions. However, one thing that stands out is the fact that the act of a privacy breach can have serious effects (Tang & Baumeister, 1984). Privacy information mainly relates to information such as an individual’s home address, location, age, and marital status. Deliberate actions of privacy breaches such as hacking and manipulation of software have been criminalized (Kiss, 2017). Anyone who engages in the vices can find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Private information can be used in aiding various criminal activities. Privacy breaches can also be unintentional but could also equally have damaging effects (Acquisti et al., 2006). Breaching the privacy of celebrities can also have seriously damaging effects. Celebrities are always at risk of physical injuries that could be a result of privacy breaches. The death of Princess Diana presents a classic case of how the lack of privacy can have damaging effects (Hindman, 2003). Diana’s death was caused by the wrong use of paparazzi techniques. Further, the fact that celebrities do not have the right to privacy also makes them exposed to criminal activities such as identity theft and financial losses. Most fraudulent activities that criminals engage in are the result of privacy breaches (Kiss, 2017). Towards this end, celebrities should have their right to privacy.

The lack of privacy has potentially damaging psychological effects on the lives of celebrities and their families. The fact that celebrities live a life of continuous surveillance makes them paranoid. Celebrities live in constant fear of the public and the government. When people live a life without privacy, they often develop mistrust (Hassan, 2011). Loss of privacy is associated with an increase in stress. A sense of privacy helps individuals to have a grip on their lives. When a person’s right to privacy is respected, they are likely to control how they live their lives. The right to privacy ensures sanity as well as the ability of an individual to lead a quiet life. Every individual has behaviors and aspects that they would like to keep private. However, an increase in surveillance makes it challenging for an individual to maintain a private life. The fact that celebrities have to live a life that is constantly being monitored by the public results in anxiety (Harvard Health Publishing, 2018). In England, Labour MP Peter Kilfoyle reported individuals who were attempting to track him down. He reported feeling of being anxious knowing that someone was tracking him down (Davies, 2019). Anxiety has several health implications and can result in an increase in blood pressure as well as various respiratory problems. Lack of privacy has serious effects on personal relationships. When people lose privacy, they may fail to foster intimacy, and this may result in personal relationships being ruined (Harvard Health Publishing, 2018). For celebrities to lead normal and healthy lives, they need to have a right to privacy. The right to privacy must be respected and must not be breached under all circumstances. Celebrities have children who are constantly exposed to negative information about their parents. The government should, therefore, move with speed to enforce celebrities’ right to privacy.

On the other hand, celebrities should not have a right to privacy owing to the fact that their status changes when they become celebrities. Unlike private citizens, the act of becoming a celeb involves attracting media attention (Hassan, 2011). There is a tradeoff between being a celebrity and having a right to privacy. Celebrities have to give up their right to privacy in exchange for the privileges that accompany celebrity status. The media attention that celebrities get is beneficial since it helps them to become influential members of society. They also reap various gains from the media attention that they get. Celebrities should, therefore, learn to cope with media attention instead of criticizing media attention (Hassan, 2011). Even though they reap benefits from media coverage, it does not take away their right to privacy. The media should hence learn to limit its intrusion on the private lives of celebrities. The limit should include not publishing photos without permission.

Overall, the right to privacy should be respected regardless of one’s status in society. The right to privacy is a fundamental right that should not be taken away from any individual. Celebrities are human beings that get a lot of media and public recognition. As a result, they deserve to have some private space. The lack of privacy puts them in danger and exposes them to various risks. Famous comedians such as Lenny Henry and John Cleese have reported cases of people tracking them and thus exposing them to physical danger (Davies, 2019). The fact that they live in the limelight does not equate to a total disregard for their right to privacy. The public should hence reduce its obsession with the lives of celebrities. The public does not have a right to be informed about all the fine details of a celebrity’s life. Instead, a celebrity should share what they feel is appropriate without fearing that they are constantly being monitored.

References

1. Acquisti, A., Friedman, A., & Telang, R. (2006). Is there a cost to privacy breaches? An event study. ICIS 2006 Proceedings, 94.
2. Tang, T. L., & Baumeister, R. F. (1984). Effects of personal values, perceived surveillance, and task labels on task preference: The ideology of turning the play into work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69(1), 99.
3. Hindman, E. B. (2003). The princess and the paparazzi: Blame, responsibility, and the media’s role in the death of Diana. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 80(3), 666-688.
4. Davies, N. (2019). How the private lives of famous were invaded. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/aug/31/data-protection-privacy-ico-celebrities
5. Hassan, G. (2011, July 15). Can celebrities expect privacy? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-14151678
6. Kiss, J. (2017, February 21). Does technology pose a threat to our private life? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/21/facebook-places-google
7. Harvard Health Publishing. (2018, May 16). Anxiety and physical illness – Harvard Health. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/anxiety_and_physical_illness

Prejudice can damage a soul and sip it dry, Imposing very overwhelming barriers or invisible barriers on individuals’ lives. Prejudice makes it hard for certain individuals or groups to succeed in this day and time in society. The consequences of prejudice go beyond the shaping of relationships between people. People are assaulted daily due to acts of prejudice. Some people having a higher status of power and greater privileges than others leading to social stratification resulting in unfair treatment referred to as discrimination. Discrimination can be based off different characteristics such as gender, age, race, religion, or ethnicity. Prejudice plays a large role in our society and impacts lives in many different forms and ways.

The first impact of prejudice is the dehumanization of individuals. People dehumanize those they fear or feel wronged by, making their victims feel as though they do not matter and often lowering them to a state of mind of incompetence. As Young and King point out the oppressed are so subjugated to their oppressors; they feel there is no need to fight back. Submitting to their doom, by allowing the ruling class to make all the decisions. As author, Iris Young, observes in “Five Faces of Oppression” “The oppressed are silenced. They have no voice and no will.” (Iris Young, 3) Iris is implying the oppressed are kept quiet no longer voicing their decisions about their suffering, experiences and way of life. One way to dehumanize others is by stripping people of their dignity, rights and religion. As a result, the victim accepts something as normal without putting up a fight thereby, becoming conditioned to their oppressor. The abolishment of slavery occurred in 1860 freeing and giving rights to many individuals. As slavery fifty years ago had African Americans believing that being owned and told what to do, say, or be in life was supposed to come from a higher white individual. “Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up.” (King)

Prejudice can damage a soul and sip it dry, Imposing very overwhelming barriers or invisible barriers on individuals’ lives. Prejudice makes it hard for certain individuals or groups to succeed in this day and time in society. The consequences of prejudice go beyond the shaping of relationships between people. People are assaulted daily due to acts of prejudice. Some people having a higher status of power and greater privileges than others leading to social stratification resulting in unfair treatment referred to as discrimination. Discrimination can be based off different characteristics such as gender, age, race, religion, or ethnicity. Prejudice plays a large role in our society and impacts lives in many different forms and ways.

The first impact of prejudice is the dehumanization of individuals. People dehumanize those they fear or feel wronged by, making their victims feel as though they do not matter and often lowering them to a state of mind of incompetence. As Young and King point out the oppressed are so subjugated to their oppressors; they feel there is no need to fight back. Submitting to their doom, by allowing the ruling class to make all the decisions. As author, Iris Young, observes in “Five Faces of Oppression” “The oppressed are silenced. They have no voice and no will.” (Iris Young, 3) Iris is implying the oppressed are kept quiet no longer voicing their decisions about their suffering, experiences and way of life. One way to dehumanize others is by stripping people of their dignity, rights and religion. As a result, the victim accepts something as normal without putting up a fight thereby, becoming conditioned to their oppressor. The abolishment of slavery occurred in 1860 freeing and giving rights to many individuals. As slavery fifty years ago had African Americans believing that being owned and told what to do, say, or be in life was supposed to come from a higher white individual. “Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up.” (King, 1) People get so tired of being at the bottom that they see no wrong in it anymore, they accept their fate as a normality. They give up and give in. This act of prejudice takes control.

Another impact of prejudice is segregation. Victims of prejudice may become marginalized and denied of better job opportunities in life. Even since the height of the Civil Rights movement, many people are still marginalized and lack social mobility. Starting from the low poverty level can put someone at a huge disadvantage in life making it hard to progress in life. [People of color whether native or foreign born, are subject to civil rights deprivations at far higher rates than other identifiable groups.] (Karen O’Connor and Larry J. Sabato, 149) In explanation they are subject to more racial profiling and held to a higher standard when criminal factors are at play. Putting laws and limitations on who can and cannot do certain things based on their ethnicity is also an act of prejudice. Ruby Nell Bridges was the first African American to attend school with whites. Before she attended the whites only school, schools had been separated by race. Whites being higher in society with more privileges and African American’s being marginalized to a lower demeanor with less prilvileges. In “Picking Cotton”, Ronald is a victim of prejudice by observing that he may not walk out of the police station as a free man due to the Southern town he is in. Burlington, NC being a predominantly white town produces barriers for African Americans. “Pointing to me like I was trash that needed to be put out.” Ronald said about officer Sully a white cop while interrogating him. (Thompson- Cannino and Ronald Cotton, 85)

Finally, prejudice prevents individuals from fulfilling their own potential. People who believe they are being judged negatively may have trouble performing to their best ability, especially if the discrimination happens daily or on a regular basis. As in the film, “Conviction”, Kenny Waters was always in trouble with the law due to the lack of guidance growing up. He found it hard at times to better himself within his community. Kenny was falsely accused of murder and was then convicted, sending him to prison for a lengthy amount of time. Nancy Taylor says in Conviction “We’ve got you now.” As she had no physical evidence on him and no leads in her case, she arrested Kenny. With Kenny being in and out of the system all his life he eventually stopped fighting back due to intrinsic characteristics within himself. Stereotypes also form a type of prejudice that judges a group of individuals based on assumptions before knowledge of the individuals. Mexicans/Latinos are stereotyped as hard-working individuals in America, often working into overtime hours. Just because Mexicans have been stereotyped as hard workers in society, they sometimes feel the need to overwork their selves trying to accomplish their tasks to succeed in work places. “Those who are oppressed by cultural imperialism are both marked by stereotypes and made to feel invisible.” (Iris Young, 4) Implies that those grouped by stereotypes are made to feel of lower class or non-relevant to others.

Prejudice has endless negative impacts on individuals’ lives, and comes in many different forms, affecting individuals on different varying levels. Almost 7.5 billion people are in this world, together everyone can help stand up against prejudice. Go on marches and protest things that are unethical, go to demonstrations and have a open mind. Travel to new places to learn about new cultures, make a cross race friend and learn from them, prejudice only affects someone if they allow it to do so. Adversity is Every person has one brain that makes a thousand thoughts in a day, why not make them all great thoughts and actions?

A physical dispute between a group of Middle-Eastern men and Anglo-Australian lifeguards sparked a race riot in the typically peaceful beach suburb of Cronulla, Sydney. On December 11, 2005 around mid-day the riots began, which saw violence against individuals that appeared to be of Middle Eastern decent. During a football game in South Africa during 1991 a vicious riot broke out between the supporters of the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs. A dubious decision from the referee triggered the Orlando Pirates supporters to attack the Kaizer Chiefs fans, creating a riot that lead to the death of 42 supporters. In countries that include Iran, Iraq, and Algeria the testimony of a woman in court is legally worth half of a man’s testimony. These examples all share the common feeling of prejudice. To be prejudiced towards an individual is to ‘prejudge’ them. Therefore, prejudice is defined as the preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience (Brown, 2007). For example, forming a negative opinion of an individual based on their religion, race, gender, age, class or appearance (Myers, Abell, & Sani, 2014).

Despite social sanctions against it, prejudice continues to occur today. Social cognitive processes that include categorization, priming, belief perseverance and schemas play a major roll in the continuation of prejudice. Furthermore, explanations of why prejudice occurs that examine the context include social dominance theory, terror management theory, social identity theory, realistic conflict theory and ethnocentrism.

Priming is a subconscious form of memory in which one stimulus influences a person respond to succeeding stimulus. It refers to triggering representations or associations in memory just before carrying out an action or task (Myers, Abell, & Sani, 2014). For example, researchers primed subjects with stereotypical words to describe old people that included forgetful and wrinkly but made sure not to mention speed and slowness. The individuals that had received this stimulus walked out of the lab much slower than the individuals that were the control and received a neutral stimulus.

Negative priming contributes to the continuation of stereotyping and prejudice in today’s society. For example, watching the news and reading articles that depict Muslims as being violent terrorist or individuals with tattoos as being unintelligent criminals can prime us to thinking and behaving negatively towards such groups of people when we encounter them. Therefore, it is of upmost importance to be self-aware and to continuously questions the stimulus we are being exposed to.

Categorization is the psychological process of perceiving an individual and then putting them in a social group based on the cues you have observed (Myers, Abell, & Sani, 2014). For example, if we see someone who is very tall me may assume that they play basketball or if we see someone who is overweight, we could categorize them as being lazy. However, both assumptions and groups we have attributed these individuals to could be false. Humans categorize information in order to learn, organize and store a large amount of information with the least amount of effort. However, when we categorize other individuals based off very few category relevant features prejudice is very likely to occur. For example, seeing a woman with short hair and categorizing her as lesbian. Therefore, in order to avoid prejudging an individual it is important to avoid categorizing a person based off limited information and physical traits alone. However, Social psychologists Ross, Lepper and Hubbard discovered that it is exceptionally difficult to abolish a false opinion once the individual has conjured up a rationale for it, even if evidence against their belief is present, this is called belief perseverance.

Furthermore, individuals tend to only seek out information that supports their beliefs and prejudices rather than looking further for information that may question and disprove their beliefs, this is known as confirmation bias. For example, an individual who beliefs that refugees are Muslim terrorists that are coming to Australia to take over is unlikely to seek out information that would disprove their belief.

Schema is a common word used in social psychology it is a concept and cognitive framework that psychologists employ to explain how we organize and interpret information about the world, people, and roles and how to act in certain situations (Myers, Abell, & Sani, 2014). Individuals use schemas everyday to help us understand how to behave in situations, predict the future and help of know what to do in difficult situations. Self schemas are information and knowledge about ourselves such as morals, values, interests etc. Role schemas are information about the behaviour and mannerisms of individuals in specific roles in society that included firemen, lawyers, teachers, father etc. An event schema is the information we store about the correct way to behave when attending events such as a high school reunion, date, or going to the gym. Person schemas is the information we gather when first meeting someone in order to better understand the person. For example, the schema for a possible friend you just met at university could include their appearance, personality, interests and behaviour. Schemas are exceptionally more easily changed during an individual’s childhood and become gradually more difficult to alter as a person becomes older (Myers, Abell, & Sani, 2014).

While schemas are very useful and beneficial to us they also contribute to the continuation of prejudice by impeding the learning of new information and perceiving individuals incorrectly leading to the creation of stereotypes. For example, by consuming media that portrays a large amount of middle eastern men as terrorists or beautiful woman as being skinny without imperfections we can start to built false schemas about individuals and therefore prejudice is created. Thus, seeing all middle eastern men as terrorists and believing beautiful woman look the way the media has presented to us.

Other than social cognitive processes that explain why prejudice continues to occur, there are theories that explore the influence of the social environment, situation and context that also help us understand why prejudice occurs. Social dominance theory was created in 1999 by researchers Jim Sidanius and Felicia Pratto. Social dominance theory states that there is a hierarchy between social groups and the groups positioned higher have more power and access to resources. However, prejudice and discrimination can occur when a social group that is higher up in society strives to maintain their status or climb the hierarchal ladder by oppressing other social groups that may challenge their position (Sidanius, & Pratto, 1999). For example, institutionalised discrimination: private and public institutions providing better healthcare, jobs, education and financial assistance to those who are members of the dominant group. More extreme examples include the oppression of the Jewish and the Nazi regimes opposition during Hitler’s reign and the USSR under Stalin.

Social identity theory states that a person’s sense of self comes from the groups they are members of (Tajfel, 1982). The theory was introduced in 1979 by British social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner. Social identity theory also states that belonging to such groups that included sports teams, social class, gender and family was a main contributor to an individual’s sense of pride, self-esteem and social identity. We increase this feeling by enhancing the status of the group we are in and discriminating and holding prejudice beliefs against the out groups. For example, Manchester United are the best football team in the world! And Liverpool FC are a bunch of losers. Therefore, we create division amongst ourselves and start using language such as them and us once again using the process of categorization (Tajfel, 1982).

Terror management theory observes that throughout human’s life span we are constantly anxious and aware of our own death. The theory states that such anxiety is substantially decreased when an individual is a member of a cultural group; this membership increases sense of belonging, self-esteem and makes them feel like contributors to society (Myers, Abell, & Sani, 2014). Terror management theory also proposes that individuals are motivated to feel closer to their cultural group in order to feel as sense of immortality.

Terror management theory is a contributor to the continuation of prejudice because individuals will perceive out groups as a threat to their cultural-anxiety buffers and intern a threat to their lives. The most common examples are religious world views that include Christianity and Islam were the sense of immortality comes from serving one’s god correctly.

Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own ethnic group and culture is superior to others, this is a main cause of division amongst group members of diverse religious groups, races and ethnicities (De, Gelfand, Nau, & Roos, 2015). Believing that you are superior to someone purely based on your heritage clearly has consequences of prejudice. For example, when Australia was colonised by the British in 1788. The British had very little understanding of Aboriginal culture and simple viewed them as wild savages as apposed to their superior culture. This intern led to a great deal of problems and unrest. Another ethnocentrism example in culture is individuals in Asian countries finding it silly and less effective that people from other countries use knives and forks rather than chopsticks.

When there are two or more groups that are trying to obtain the same limited resources prejudice, negative stereotyping and discrimination will occur this theory is known as realistic conflict theory (Sherif, 2010). The theory was created by Muzafer Sherif who is a psychologist that focused mainly on understanding groups and its members. The theory is supported by an experiment by Sherif called ‘The Robbers Cave’.

Unfortunately, prejudice continues to occur in society today however with research showing why this is occurring we can put together better and more effective ways to combat prejudice. By understanding our social cognitive processes that include priming, categorization, belief perseverance and schemas we can train people to be more empathetic and understanding towards individuals of other social groups. By allowing themselves to figuratively step into the shoes of others to gain a better understanding of their actions and reactions. Furthermore, theories that include social dominance theory, terror management theory, social identity theory, realistic conflict theory and ethnocentrism also provide an answer to why prejudice continues to occur despite social sanctions against it.

In today’s society, African Americans and other races experience racism in their lives, either as victims or guilty of being racist due to differences between them. Racism is prejudice directed against someone of a different race based on their race’s culture. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee describes the ways racism is used, the evils of racism, and the negative consequences in the city of Maycomb by showing the reader many real-life situations and discovering the impact of racism on people’s lives.

In the city of Maycomb, blacks and whites are separated and whites usually hate colored folks. Scout suffers many consequences from her cousin and other people. “Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly, “Nigger-lover…” (Lee 112) Francis called Scout an awful name. Francis thinks it is wrong to favor colored people because white folks back then thought that they have more privileges than colored folks. Why do such a thing just because a white person is defending a black man for a good cause? As the residents of Maycomb were informed of how Atticus was dedicated to freeing Tom Robinson, they lost respect for him and started saying bad things to him and calling him a ‘nigger lover’. White folks also are victims of racism. Scout and Jem are victims of racism by blacks. “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here- they got their church we got our church, ain’t it, miss cal?”(Lee 158). Colored people think they can be racist since whites are racist to them too. White folks already have more privilege so colored people don’t want whites to take their church and other stuff they are allowed to have. People need to understand each other more. “You never really understand a person until you consider things his past of view… until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 39). This means that they have to view situations from others’ points of view in order to better understand them. Atticus teaches this lesson to Scout. Scout looks at Boo from how he is on the inside not his appearance. It’s the outside that people see that makes them believe that they are different than “normal” but from the inside everyone is the same.

All blacks, whites, men, and women are equal and have the same rights. People should think they are better than others just because of how they look, they should get to know them, talk to them and have a conversation with them. This book really introduces the ugly reality of what happens when racism goes too far, as in the case of Tom Robinson. In my essay, I strongly think that the real point of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is that people must look beyond what they think they see, or they will do great harm to others who are guilty of no wrong at all.

The issue of race in the 21st century is a touchy subject, but one that needs to be talked about. Racism is a cultural creation that continues to wreak havoc on multiple countries, one of which includes the United States, which has a long history of racism. The issue of race has not gone away but has rather taken another form. Racism looks different today than it did 100 years ago, but it is still an issue that needs to be addressed. As a white college-age woman living in Utah, I noticed subtle forms of racism almost every day. I recently watched a movie with my mom that was produced by BYUTV. The movie was played by almost all white actors, except for three construction workers who were black and only shown in two scenes; for BYU I expected this as they are a 98% white school. I did not expect a cop in Salt Lake City to pull me over and proceed to question the black female passenger who I was with. I did not expect to get “looks” from multiple people in the store as I walked with two Mexican children. I did not expect to have an hour-long conversation with my grandfather trying to explain to him why he could not call my Asian friend sushi.

Racism continues to plague businesses, education systems, healthcare services, and our government. When Barack Obama was elected as the first black president of the United States it was considered a huge step towards eradicating racism in this country. Since Donald Trump has been president race relations between Americans have continually gotten worse. Trump’s outrageous racist remarks have welcomed similar behavior among the American people. Trump’s behavior has encouraged a “White America”, and the term “Let’s take our country back”, used by white Americans has become increasingly popular. It has created hatred towards anyone in America who is not white.

I did not expect to encounter racism this often and I couldn’t even begin to imagine what people of color deal with on a daily basis. Those who do not recognize racism as a problem often choose to ignore it and those who deal with it every day get angry that nothing is being done. This only makes matters worse and the divide between people grows. Many experts agree that racism is a problem that is almost impossible to solve, but there are small things that can be done to help the situation in a significant way. The goal is to argue against racism by providing facts and examples to make people aware of the issue. Also to provide small solutions to help the problem get better and be able to talk about racism in a productive way. If people recognize racism and understand the issue, they will slowly be able to change their attitudes toward people which is one small step in a potentially big change.

The first step to solving a problem is admitting that there is a problem. From 1995 until the present around half of Americans thought that racism was a big problem. According to the Pew Research Center, during Obama’s first 3 years as president the thought of racism being a problem lowered 33% and the numbers have continually risen as high as 58%. The other half of Americans either think it’s not a problem, a small problem, or somewhat of a problem. Racism is undoubtedly a problem in America that needs to be addressed urgently. One does not simply have the ability to cure racism, but recognizing the issue will help to resolve it. We need to be able to recognize that we do not understand every side of every story. A quote by Mary Church Terrell says, “A white woman has only one handicap to overcome – that of sex. I have two – both sex and race… Colored men have only one – that of race.” As a white woman, I do not understand what it is like to have two handicaps and I need to recognize that my race has somewhat allowed me to get ahead in life

It is important to recognize that everyone carries some sort of bias. It is crucial to use critical thinking skills, unbiased sources, and get a variety of opinions to understand any information. The recent information that we have received from mainstream media sources has inaccurately portrayed statistics about colored people. Colored people have been portrayed negatively by multiple people in the news or government. A popular subject that has been misinformed to us is the healthcare system and how people are taking advantage of it. Yes, people do take advantage of our welfare system by lying on forms to receive a greater amount of money, and no it is not only colored people doing this. It is assumed that only colored people do this even though there is a significantly higher percentage of white people in the system. In 2016, welfare statistics have shown that 43% of recipients were White, 18% were African-American, and 30% were Hispanic. Yes, people do take advantage of the system, but it is not subject to a specific race, yet many white Americans believe that it is colored people who are ruining this country. So many people are misinformed about America and they are separating people into groups and accusing them of things when in reality it’s not one single race, but multiple races. Race-specific beliefs and the ”in-grouping” of races is an issue and we have to look into unconscious racism which is a debatable topic as to whether it exists or not.

Unconscious racism is the unacknowledged belief that your race is better than another race. This includes dirty looks, unfriendly interactions, avoiding eye contact, or choosing to cross the street when a person of color is walking your way. Unconscious racism is created from our daily interactions with people and society. The media, as we have seen, tends to not hold true when portraying people of color. They are often placed in impoverished positions or portrayed as lower than White Americans. The media has linked colored people to negative characteristics and it definitely gives us an unconscious bias. We have to be careful with this unconscious racism that has been ingrained in our minds and be able to recognize that no race is superior.

I don’t want to get caught up in the negative aspects of racism by saying that we have accomplished nothing because we have accomplished a lot in the past hundreds of years. It is a long process that takes time and patience, although many people may be running out of patience, we still have made huge strides in eradicating the race problem. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865 and segregation was outlawed in 1964. Even though the government denounced racism there was still an issue of implementing it because not every American follows the law completely. Even though huge steps were taken to help eradicate racism people still let their prejudices get in the way of that; as this continues it is clearly seen in our education system. The legal abolishment of segregation did not happen that long ago, so our country is still in the process of desegregating. A Civil Rights Project was done by Harvard in 2004 and they found that schools were more segregated in 2000 than they were in 1970. There has been little to no change in our schools in regard to race. Whites have continued to stay isolated from other races and colored people have continued to attend minority-majority schools.

Schools are not the only thing where segregation continues to happen, but it is also an issue in our communities. Multiple communities are still segregated into different ethnic groups. According to the 2010 census, Detroit is the most segregated city in America. It is almost completely divided between White people and African Americans by the 8 Mile Road. Even though we have made great strides in eliminating racism, it is still an issue that could easily get worse before it gets better. It would be nice to think that things continually get better, but that’s not always the case. The continued prejudice of people involved in education, healthcare, housing, and businesses undoubtedly has not helped the problem of racism but some protesting has also caused more strife among different races.

Modern-day protests have shown to be little to non-effective because of the lack of organization and purpose. Protests in the past have been really effective such as The March on Washington in 1963 where Martin Luther King Jr delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. This protest is credited as being one of the most successful protests as it is partly responsible for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The reason why this protest was successful was because there was organization and purpose. Organizers met with the president and members of Congress prior to the event to discuss how effective the protest would be. The concern was that it would cause more violence rather than induce change, but King pushed for the protest as he argued that there is never an appropriate time to engage in direct action. This peaceful protest had structure, goals, purpose, and organization which is what many modern-day protests lack. Protesting today has turned into a hobby where people of similar beliefs can get together and hang out. There are groups that have more structure and purpose, but the majority of protests in America today are not productive and often prompt violence. There is more power when fixed groups work directly together over a longer period of time, but protests today are under the weak structure of media. This has allowed random people to participate in protests which disrupts the unity and purpose thus also disrupting the cause.

Not all protests involving race are violent and unproductive, but it is important to recognize that racial protests have a violent history that continues into today. With America’s history of racism and violence, the problem seems to be getting worse without a solution in sight.