Let a Thousand Licensed Poppies Bloom

This proposal is about the harvest of opium which is bad in the sense that it feeds heroin addiction and finances terrorism, yet it is an essential drug in pain relievers and the United States wants Afghanistan to destroy the crop.   I think that this article is pretty persuasive in the fact that it presents many facts that back up all the claims it makes.  It effectively presents both sides of the problem.  It also has a way of appealing to the audience using pathos, due to the fact that it brings up at one point that without opium people with cancer, AIDS and other painful conditions was die in pain.  

The author of this article wants opium harvest to continue because it is essential in medicines we need for people.  He proposes many things with a large amount of facts and statistics that back up the claims.  The style in which he wrote this though seemed to get a little cluttered with information, and there did not seem to be a clear distinct proposal right of the back, which would be more helpful to see before you know all the facts. 

C.P Ellis

I think that Ellis's story does offer a credible way to overcome misunderstandings and hatred between races.  The main reason racism occurs is because of biased notions that are instilled on you through others you are around, and they have no real backing except hate for no apparent reason.  Ellis is able to see past this by opening up his mind that was once hard-headed, and seeing past the unreasonable hatred.  Once he was able to open himself up to others, he realized that all his notions about the black race, was not true.  He didn't accept the black race as humans with real emotions and feelings, but once he stopped and began to work with a black woman he saw that all human beings have the same emotions and feelings as whites.  I don't think this solution would work on a larger scale because I don't think a lot of people that come from that extreme of a racial back-round like Ellis are able to open their minds eaisly.  If you have grown up knowing one thing your whole life like a member in the Klan it is an extremely rare thing for one to suddenly have this change in mind or realization about life.  I think that Ellis is rare in that he was able to expand his views about life to something he never knew to be true before.  

The Pressure to Cover

Yoshino argues that mainstream is a myth because in our present day the word has lost its meaning.  He states that humans hold many different identities and not one person can be fully within this "mainstream" definition.  Calling someone mainstream would allude that they are completely average in every aspect, and Yoshino is arguing that no person can be completely  average in ever part of their lives.  There is not one vision of normality, and even to be fully normal is not normal any more.  Because one can not define normal, there is no possible way to actually fit a mainstream description.  I think his reasoning is fairly persuasive because his brings in reasons to describe why people tend to place people in a "mainstream" light.  He bring in a range of all types of  groups that anyone can relate to.  This makes us understand how even though everyone wants to fit in with a group, you can never be fully mainstream because no one personality can possibly be defined as normal.  I would define "mainstream" as the average thing that everyone want to try and fit in to be.  Something that doesn't attract attention, and would ideal not be accepted yet not rejected by all..just average.  You hear many people talk about how mainstream is "boring".  This is simple because in oder to fit into the mainstream stereotype you can't have an extreme of any characteristic. 

Conclusion to Incidents

Life in the North is not all Linda had hoped it to be.  She assumed that because it was a free state that she would be treated as such.  But, these expectations were wrong.  There were great prejudices against blacks, and she felt no more free than she did in the south.  She was also still burdened with nervousness because she had to constantly watch her back and run from place to place avoiding Mr. Flint visits to find her in New York. 

  Linda obtains her freedom after Mr. Flint finally dies and she is placed fully under the position of his daughter Emily.  After time Emily's husband buys her freedom from a man that Mr. bruce hires.  Emily is happy of this and only longs to see Linda again.  Linda has mixed emotions about her freedom because she does not believe that anyone should have their freedom bought, because no human belongs to anyone.  She believes that she does not rightly belong to one person in the first place and should not have to be bought in any means, even if it is buying her for her freedom.  Even thought Linda was against being purchased she did feel a sudden release of wight lifter from her shoulders when she finally become a free person.  She could walk without fear through the streets of her old southern town, and be freely with both of her children. 

Passage from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

One passage i found extremely emotionally loaded was when Mr. Flint came to Linda's house and excused her of having more men try and buy her.  He proceeded to grab her violently screaming at her, and at the same time grab her son and through him across the room.  When she tries and run to her boy he grabs her and doesn't let her go.

The first thing that majority contributes to my emotions is that it is written so that we are to experience exactly what Linda is seeing.  When her boy was tossed across the room I wanted to know right then if he was alright or not, but because it's from Linda's point of view we were left to wonder if he was okay or not, just like Linda.  Linda said at one point that she looked over and could not tell if he was dead or not.  This was a big emotional cliff hanger because all I wanted was to know if he was okay, but she was still being held my the master.   The pace at which she writes also contributes to the emotional appeal.  The sentence structure is short and follows each other at a quick pace.  The dialogue is short and and consists of many words in a short space.  This adds to the confusion of the situation so we can more understand how the character is actually feeling.  Because it is so fast, we are expected to retain a lot of information in a short amount of time, thus leave us little time to comprehend what is happening.  When you have less time to think threw what is going on, then it tends to have a bigger emotional impact on the reader.

In the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, it is important that this book is truth because it let people understand that this is something that actually happened, not just an interpretation that could be made into any thing they wanted to be.  There are many books based off of true life events, but are created stories to replicate what actually happened.  With this people can then choose that it is fiction, and use the fact that it's a fictional story as a base for it not actually happening.  The fact that this is a real story, lets people connect on a more emanational level because this girl actually lived at one time.  It leaves little room for one to say that the story is not credible, and gives a first hand story on what actually happened in our history.  It is also important that the author did not clean up the stories because it takes away from the truth of history.  These stories are vital for us to hear and read about uncensored, because they are apart of our history, and people need to be correctly educated on what our country has done to people without the sugar coating. 

Political News

Im watching CNN, and their main focus is on Indiana and Kentucky, but mainly Indiana.  Their poles right now have Obama in the lead, and in every graph or statistic they have up at the moment seem to be angled in Obama's favor.  They have a group of political speakers talking, who they say are "the best political team on televsion."  This team seems to be biased to me, because right off the bat they go into talking about how john McCain is not stable in the economic process.  They continue to up Obama saying that sense september he has never been behind in the poles.  They also are talking about how many people consider leaving Iraq as the main concern, and this is why Obama is ahead in the poles and a good thing for our country because the protection of its citizens is number one.  One of the political speakers says, "the security of citizens is the first job of the president of the United States, this is a good thing for the country, but not for John McCian's political fortunes."  They continue to talk about how McCain in a negative light.  ti would be understandable to me to have a group talking that weren't biased for one side, or even if they had half for Mcain and half for Obama, so we could hear both sides.  But, in the course of listening to each member of the 6 member group talk, not one of them seemed pro-McCain.  All their reporters are reporting out of areas where people are supporting Obama, and are continually advertising Obama's speech later tonight in chicago. In my opinion a national news station should simply report the actually news, and not present biased views.  The purpose of the news is to report what is actually happening, not their opinions about with is happening.  People are strongly influenced by what the media says, and in my opinion it is not fair to let it be influenced in this way. 

Talking about Racism

Growing up in a small private school, I have basically been sheltered all my life.  So, I can honestly say that I have never really have witnessed or been apart of a profound confrontation about race.  Of course I know that these things happen in the world and I have heard and seen instances on the news, but I have never actually been apart of something.  Because racial confrontation is not something I see or hear every day, or for that fact really ever considering I go still go to a small private school with a white majority.  From only seeing my worlds perspective, one could look in and easily say that racism is not a problem.  After reading Watchel, I would have to agree.  Racism is not the issue, its indifference. 

I live in a world where it is unseen to make racist remarks or even consider to think of yourself as racially superior to another race, and the basically everyone I know can honestly say they have no problem with racial differences.  But this is not where the wrong doing is coming from in todays society.  As years go on our generations are becoming more and more excepting of other cultures, but that doesn't mean we are still not neglecting it.  We make no effort in caring if racism is going on, or what other cultures might be experiencing.  As long as we are morally correct and don't do anything bad we think we are fine.  The reason racism and racial divides still occur today is because this lack on interest.  We put no effort towards trying to put an end to it. 

Causes of Predjudice

The "socialization process" according to Parrillo is when children are shaped and molded by the prejudices that their parents have.  This effects a child's attitude, beliefs, values, and perspectives of others cultures.  Many children are very impressionable and simply conform to what their parents tell them is right, because they know no other right.  This molds a child's mind at a young age and influences how they may think and value certain things in the future.  This makes it so that certain cultures values and beliefs are passed down from generation to generation. 

I do agree that beliefs and prejudices are instilled this way.  Many prejudices have to real substance behind them expect for unknown hate.  That unknown hate is simply passed down within a culture you grow up in.  It is also logical that a young child being brought up in a home of set beliefs would follow those and grow up to have similar values and outlooks towards life.  Children are too young to really know what they believe because they aren't given an alternative.  I also believe that once children grow older they can and do start to mold their parents ideas into their own once they mature and experience all perspectives of life.  The main belief that has been instilled on me from this concept is religion.  I grew up with Christianity and knowing it was right from my parents.  But, the only reason I believed it was because they did and I never thought about having my own opinion.  But, as I grew older I started to form my own opinion on the matter, and still am a christian.  But, not just because it's what my parents believe, but because it's what I believe.