This is an issue that is always brought up, but never actually recognized. I think that many people know about Syria and about the dangers happening in their country. I don't think that many people realize the extent of the danger and the situations.
After watching this, it added a little more insight to my knowledge about Syria. Syria's civil war started as peaceful protests and has turned in to a big mess with no end in sight.
I searched Twitter as part of my research for this post. All I typed in was simply "Syria". Hundreds of thousands of tweets came up regarding this topic. Many that caught my eye were images of children, and people saying that we have lost all hope for humanity. Many of the tweets also talked about the involvement of Russia and Iraq. Some mentioned immigration into the U.S. and what Clinton and Trump thought about it.
As of right now, the U.S. has allowed 10,000 refugees in to our country. Our country is skeptical, due to relations with ISIS. Germany has more than one million, and Europe over all has roughly 1,800,000 refugees within their countries.
After watching the documentary in class, I started to look at Syria on a more personal level. I know that I will never fully understand what that family has gone through, but I tried to imagine what my lief would be like with my siblings if we were that family. All that family had for each other was love. They were risking their lives for their home country and watching it be destroyed right in front of their eyes.
I know that it is hard for people to comprehend what is going on and many people are against helping the refugees and letting them in to our country. But it just hurts my heart to know that this is happening to families and individuals on the daily. I think that through certain background checks, we should be able to allow these people in to our country so that they can live a safe and happy life. Isn't America the land of opportunity? I understand that you cannot trust everyone, but you can keep your guards up and still try and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. You just have to go with your gut feelings.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
OTM: Poverty Tour
The very poor in our country are the poorest they've ever been. How is that possible? Isn't America the land of opportunity? Sadly, it used to be. But now that thought has simply turned in to a delusion.
Many of us scored on the family we were born in to. Middle class is a good place to be and it is comfortable. Poverty is something that most of us will never understand or experience. Factors of poverty include: race, proximity, and gender. Research says that in Salt Lake City, you have an 11% chance to rise from the bottom fifth income bracket to the top fifth. On the opposite side, you have a 4% chance, which is basically no chance at all.
In the Appalachian areas, there has always been problems with poverty. Beginning at the turn of the century, there were always more people than jobs. People in this area are living in rusted trailers and wooden shacks. Some have electricity but many do not have running water. Multiple families are living in these shacks. This kind of poverty is hard to see because it's not easily seen. You have to drive through back roads to witness it. It's hard to get the media to cover it and it's even harder to understand.
The biggest misconception about poor people is that they are poor. In some cases, this is true. But in many, this is not the problem.We have created this idea in our country, that if we help them or share with them, it is only hurting them. We have this idea that if we help them it is creating some kind of dependency. Many American citizens don't believe that poverty is an issue in our country. In result of that, it keeps getting neglected and over looked.
I'm not going to lie, this podcast was a little hard for me to relate to. In Utah, our poverty is not nearly as bad as other places around the country. I don't have any kind of clue what it is to live like that. I was blessed to be born in to the family that I was. Not by any means are we rich, but we are comfortable. It is time for the upper middle class and wealthy to take action and understand these issues and the crisis that poverty is.
Many of us scored on the family we were born in to. Middle class is a good place to be and it is comfortable. Poverty is something that most of us will never understand or experience. Factors of poverty include: race, proximity, and gender. Research says that in Salt Lake City, you have an 11% chance to rise from the bottom fifth income bracket to the top fifth. On the opposite side, you have a 4% chance, which is basically no chance at all.
In the Appalachian areas, there has always been problems with poverty. Beginning at the turn of the century, there were always more people than jobs. People in this area are living in rusted trailers and wooden shacks. Some have electricity but many do not have running water. Multiple families are living in these shacks. This kind of poverty is hard to see because it's not easily seen. You have to drive through back roads to witness it. It's hard to get the media to cover it and it's even harder to understand.
The biggest misconception about poor people is that they are poor. In some cases, this is true. But in many, this is not the problem.We have created this idea in our country, that if we help them or share with them, it is only hurting them. We have this idea that if we help them it is creating some kind of dependency. Many American citizens don't believe that poverty is an issue in our country. In result of that, it keeps getting neglected and over looked.
I'm not going to lie, this podcast was a little hard for me to relate to. In Utah, our poverty is not nearly as bad as other places around the country. I don't have any kind of clue what it is to live like that. I was blessed to be born in to the family that I was. Not by any means are we rich, but we are comfortable. It is time for the upper middle class and wealthy to take action and understand these issues and the crisis that poverty is.
Monday, October 3, 2016
Well Informed 2.0: Security + Privacy
Privacy is a very interesting topic because it has a very large gray area. What I consider to be private is something that you wouldn't mind being exposed, and vice versa. In this day and age our constitutional privacy rights are being compromised by the NSA in hopes to keep our country safe. The 4th Amendment is what is supposed to protect our privacy rights, but is being violated everyday.
We are told all the time that Snapchat is scanning our faces, Facebook is tracking our location and Instagram is creating maps of our lives. But what about Google? What about our phone calls? Have you ever noticed when you are looking for a new pair of Steve Madden boots and all the sudden you have Steve Madden ads on Facebook and Instagram. Every single one of our clicks is tracked and recorded.
After researching this topic, I kept coming back to the issue between Apple and the FBI. The FBI asked a court to order Apple to create a different iOS that would make information more easily accessible for them. Apple objected this order. Apple created a highly secure iOS because they know how much secure information carry in their devices. People carry their wallets, personal pictures, and basically their livelihood on those devices. Apple found it to be wrong to intentionally weaken this security system. If Apple did agree to this order, it would give the government more power and they were unsure where that would take us.
Of course Apple had the means to build this iOS. The FBI requested that it be built only once, but in this world that we live in now, once it is created once, there are no limits to how many more times it can be duplicated. Apple is frequently asked to unlock iPhones for law enforcement and have not because it is against the law. Apple is cooperating with law enforcement as much as they can without violating rights and breaking the law.
It is vital in this day and age to keep ourselves as safe as possible. If we really knew how much of our lives are tracked, it would be scary. We are constantly watched and our lives are being monitored. Our location through our bank accounts, our license plates are pictured and our phone activity is wired. It is important to be smart and aware of our surroundings.
We are told all the time that Snapchat is scanning our faces, Facebook is tracking our location and Instagram is creating maps of our lives. But what about Google? What about our phone calls? Have you ever noticed when you are looking for a new pair of Steve Madden boots and all the sudden you have Steve Madden ads on Facebook and Instagram. Every single one of our clicks is tracked and recorded.
After researching this topic, I kept coming back to the issue between Apple and the FBI. The FBI asked a court to order Apple to create a different iOS that would make information more easily accessible for them. Apple objected this order. Apple created a highly secure iOS because they know how much secure information carry in their devices. People carry their wallets, personal pictures, and basically their livelihood on those devices. Apple found it to be wrong to intentionally weaken this security system. If Apple did agree to this order, it would give the government more power and they were unsure where that would take us.
Of course Apple had the means to build this iOS. The FBI requested that it be built only once, but in this world that we live in now, once it is created once, there are no limits to how many more times it can be duplicated. Apple is frequently asked to unlock iPhones for law enforcement and have not because it is against the law. Apple is cooperating with law enforcement as much as they can without violating rights and breaking the law.
It is vital in this day and age to keep ourselves as safe as possible. If we really knew how much of our lives are tracked, it would be scary. We are constantly watched and our lives are being monitored. Our location through our bank accounts, our license plates are pictured and our phone activity is wired. It is important to be smart and aware of our surroundings.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
#presidentialdebate2016
A group of my friends and I got together to watch the debate. I was nervous to be around a large group of people in fear of clashing opinions and different political views. I brought the bingo boards and someone else brought the pizza. It actually turned out okay.
I made it a point to check Twitter and Facebook as the debate was going on. I was shocked at all of the different responses. When I thought that Trump said something absolutely outrageous, someone was tweeting about how genius it was. Our country is in a scary place.
My newsfeed was full of mocking the candidates, hilarious memes and tweets of disparity that these are our two candidates. That did not surprise me at all. What did surprise me was that the number one trending topic was #TrumpWon.
I sat next to a good friend while watching the debate. We both are undecided on this presidential election and so we did a little experiment. We both watched our hashtags quickly change and become opposite of each other. I'm not sure what made them so different, but it was interesting to see how fast things changed. Her's was full of Anti-Hillary, and mine was all Trump hating.
Even though that I do not traditionally use Twitter for news or important topics like this, it was interesting to see it used in this aspect. It created stories and Top Tweets specifically for me. It made me realize that you really do have to do all of your research, because just by looking at your social media you're getting maybe 1/16th of the story.
But hey, at lease we have presidential candidates that hate each other.
I made it a point to check Twitter and Facebook as the debate was going on. I was shocked at all of the different responses. When I thought that Trump said something absolutely outrageous, someone was tweeting about how genius it was. Our country is in a scary place.
My newsfeed was full of mocking the candidates, hilarious memes and tweets of disparity that these are our two candidates. That did not surprise me at all. What did surprise me was that the number one trending topic was #TrumpWon.
I sat next to a good friend while watching the debate. We both are undecided on this presidential election and so we did a little experiment. We both watched our hashtags quickly change and become opposite of each other. I'm not sure what made them so different, but it was interesting to see how fast things changed. Her's was full of Anti-Hillary, and mine was all Trump hating.
Even though that I do not traditionally use Twitter for news or important topics like this, it was interesting to see it used in this aspect. It created stories and Top Tweets specifically for me. It made me realize that you really do have to do all of your research, because just by looking at your social media you're getting maybe 1/16th of the story.
But hey, at lease we have presidential candidates that hate each other.
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