Should the Death Penalty be banned ?

What is the death penalty? The death penalty is punishment by death, or also referred as a death sentence. The death penalty law dates as far back as the eighteenth century when King Hammaurabi of Babylon summoned the death penalty for twenty-five different crimes. During this time, the death penalty consisted of crucifixion, drowning, heating to death, burning alive, or even impalement. As time transitioned the way of death became more modern, transitioning from the electric chair, to a group of soldiers firing, known as the firing squad. Today in America, the death penalty is used predominately through the lethal injection, which consists of lethal quantities of ultrashort acting barbiturate combined with a paralytic agent until death is pronounced. Personally, the death penalty is a waste. According to “Death Penalty Information Center”, a new study in California revealed that the cost of the death penalty in the state has been over four billion since 1978 (Alarcon & Mitchell, 2011). Another study found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment (Duke University, May 1993). Having the death penalty is costing the United States billions of dollars, which is a lot of money that could be saved elsewhere. While using money on the death penalty, it could go to more things such as law enforcement. I say this because if we had a better law enforcement then maybe they would have a better chance of catching the person the first time. Rather than having an innocent person killed over something he/she did not do. Cases that are not dealing with the death penalty cost $740,000 while cases dealing with the death penalty cost $1.26 million. When looking at the numbers you can just see how much money they are spending on one thing. Another fact from “Death Penalty Information Center”, tax payers pay ninety thousand dollars per year to maintain the death penalty. That much money should not be coming out of people taxes. There has been times where people has been charged with death row and did not commit the crime. Which means if they do not find the person who actually committed the crime they would have to die. If they do find out, it would be too late to do anything and that would be another 1.26 million wasted. Many people will argue that the death penalty is capital punishment given by the administration of a nation, to individuals who have perpetrated ghastly violations like murder, assault, and so forth. The death penalty has been a method for rebuffing individuals for ages. Despite the fact that there are a few nations that have nullified capital punishment from their law, there are still numerous which still practice the demonstration of slaughtering a man for crime. The death penalty is common in the US, Asian and Middle Eastern nations. A percentage of the methods for executing lawbreakers are hanging, shooting, electric shock and giving deadly infusions. In the event that a criminal is imprisoned, he might again carry out the same crime in the wake of being discharged from jail. Giving them the death penalty would ensure that the general public is protected from being assaulted by lawbreakers. It is by all accounts a suitable discipline for serial executioners and for the individuals who keep on carrying out wrongdoings even in the wake of serving detainment. Some believe that instead of announcing life imprisonment for the convicts, where they would have to live a futile life behind closed bars, it is better to kill them. It is said that imprisoning someone is more expensive than executing him. Rather than spending on a person who may again commit terrifying crime, it is better to put him to death. United States does not execute people based on their population counts but on the murders they commit. As African Americans represent forty-seven percent of murderers and white’s thirty-seven percent, we understand that whites are twice as likely to be executed for committing murder as African Americans counterparts. Furthermore, the Bureau of Justice Statistics says that whites sentenced to death are executed seventeen months more quickly than African Americans.

http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/racism.htm
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf

More Trump-ness

The presidential primary elections are in full affect, and it seems like you can’t have a conversation about this up-coming election without mentioning one man: Donald Trump. Well to no one’s surprise, he’s in the news again for this time. Not for his comments on “temporarily” banning Muslims; not for mocking a reporter with a disability; or not for his numerous outlandish remarks about women; but this time Mr. Trump is in the news for having the support of the Klu Klux Klan.

Yes, to no one’s surprise Donald Trump has managed to gain the support of the former Grand Wizard (Leader of KKK) David Duke encouraged members to vote support Trump as Duke was quoted as saying “Voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage.”

When asked about this, Trump denied knowing anything of the KKK or white supremacy at all saying that, “Well I have to look at the group. I don’t know what group you’re talking about.”

Really Trump? You mean to tell me to that you don’t know who the KKK is? One of America’s most infamous terrorist groups, and I emphasize the word terrorist for a reason. This same group is responsible for over 3000 deaths, and those are only the documented deaths. But fine, let’s just pretend that for whoever is living in a fantasy world that Trump has never heard of this group before, there’s still one problem. Just one day before this interview a protester stood up at Trump rally with a shirt that said “KKK Supports Trump.” And you can tell by Trump’s discomfort that he is at least some what familiar with the Klan, as he goes as far as stopping mid sentence to allow the police to take the protestor away. He the goes on to say “In the good old days [Law Enforcement] would’ve ripped him out of that seat so fast. But today everybody is politically correct, our country is going to hell with being politically correct.” Yes, he actually said that. There is a link below proving it.

I know most people my age, including myself, aren’t interested in politics despite our parents constant nagging about how old we are old enough to vote and how we should start paying more attention. To be honest, most times for us, it goes in through one ear and goes out of the other. But seeing and hearing things about Donald Trump really scares me. I mean, this man seems to have a really good shot at being president. Do we really want a man like this being president for us? Every time I turn on the news, there seems to be yet another crazy thing that Trump has done to what me seems to be embarrassing, but to others seems as another reason to support him.

If this blog does nothing else, I hope that it encourages you to vote. I hate to be this blunt, but quite frankly I hope it encourages you to vote for anyone who opposes Trump, whether it be Democrat, Libertarian, or even the Green party, just get out there and vote.

·            How do you guys feel about Trump?

·            Do you think you’ll vote this election?

Link of Donald Trump pretending not to know about KKK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVsel6f6qqc

Link of Donald Trump staring down protestor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1evyptWWgDE

Are Reality Shows Becoming Our Reality?

When you turn on the television, what’s the first thing you go to? I personally always find myself sitting in front of the screen drawn into a juicy episode of Love and Hip Hop or The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Reality television has been growing more and more ever since the early 2000s’. Of course there were shows earlier than that, but the new wave of “ratchet reality” has created a whole new road and direction for reality shows these days. Shows like Big Brother, Amazing Race, Survivor and The Bachelor are examples of reality shows that are competitions for money. Though these types of shows are still popular, it seems that people (or at least those of my generation) are paying more attention to the newer types of reality TV. Some of these shows include: Love and Hip Hop, Basketball Wives, The Real Housewives, Braxton Family Values, etc. The basis of all of these shows are to get to live through the “reality” of people’s lives and see what really goes on in their world. However, is what they display really their reality? Or are they doing the things they do for ratings?

A trend on the new types of reality TV shows is to have cast mates in different scenarios and situations where they conveniently or coincidently get into an argument. It has most people question the how genuine it is because of how often drama occurs. Almost all scenes in these shows are negative and all the “characters” are related in some way. So why do we still watch these shows? Do we get any positivity out of them? Rarely. Once in a blue moon reality shows bring light to a pressing issue or give hope to someone going through a tough time, but more than likely the episode consists of back and forth arguing, trash talk and insults, and maybe an occasional physical altercation.

My reason for watching reality television is honestly for a good laugh. It is rare that I actually believe a storyline in these shows are real. Though I think factors may be accurate, I think that most situations are manipulated by producers to get the drama rolling and keep the viewers watching. Several people complain that these shows don’t really showcase reality, but they still watch. I for one only watch for the entertainment and also to learn how to NOT be when I grow older. These shows make me understand that humiliating myself for money isn’t worth it and that having money isn’t the most important thing in life.

Reality Shows are a controversial topic. Some would say that since I watch them, I have no morals or that I am “ratchet”. I believe that as long as I don’t act foolish like some of the figures on these shows and I know that the way they live isn’t the way life really is, I can indulge in tuning in for the entertainment factor.

Do you guys watch reality shows? Do you look at individuals who do in a different light?

Furry Kids

How many people have dogs, cats, or possibly both ? I do, I have a small dog named Max and he is like a Kid but with a heavy coat of fur and a tail. I feel like dogs especially are human in a way or at least act as if they are human. We humans share a lot of characteristics with many mammals but yet a monkey or elephant is not what we call a mans' best friend. A dog is what we know a mans' best friend to be because of course dogs are loyal but I also believe that it is because we know somewhere deep, deep. deep in our hearts that dogs are human.

 Anyone that owns a cat they really do their own thing. Cats leave their home whenever they please and come back when their hungry, Cats have a type A personality; which is doing what you want when you want no matter what or who says you can't, that half of the human race has. But before all of the loyalty and personality cats and dogs are babies and learn their behavior from their owner which human babies do as well. 

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How the Internet gets into our heads

 Read this article first, then my blog post response:  Google Search Results Can Influence an Election 



Someone sent me a link to this article about how Google can influence an election and I found it to be a little frightening. We are all so connected to our devices these days, that I think we forget that the constant stream of information coming at us can affect the way we think about things without us even realizing it. I know for a fact that Facebook has done social experimentation on its members. They admitted as much in 2012 when they altered the feeds of 700,000 member to see their reactions to a variety or negative posts. (Facebook's Not-so-secret Mood Manipulation Experiment ).

I've also heard rumblings about the"gay marriage rainbow profile filter" app that was made available to Facebook users following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold gay marriage. Rumor has it those were a social experiment too. I've read various reports that never definitively corroborate or disprove that it was, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were true. Can you imagine what an immensely powerful tool that would be to have access to the thoughts and feelings of a wide and varied range of the population? Old, young, conservative, liberal, crunchy, hipster, religious, atheist, ethnic, white...they're all represented on Facebook.

To be fair, marketers and politicians have always tried to figure out which ways work best to sway us, so none of this is really new.  There have always been polls and surveys and even controversial social experimentation, like the Obedience Experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram, but I think there's a fine line between trying to figure out what makes humans tick so you can learn about human nature either for purely academic reasons or to hopefully persuade them to choose something, and controlling people with manipulation. Some of this stuff just plays out to me a little bit too much like some of the dystopian literature I've read (Fahrenheit 451, A Handmaid's Tale, Nineteen Eighty-Four etc). What are your thoughts? Do you think the "powers that be" are using our Internet activity to manipulate and control us (or at least working hard to figure out how to do so)? If so, what can one do to counter it?

PS: I promise I was not wearing a foil-hat while writing this.  :)

Titanic II: To Ride or Not to Ride?

A billionaire has built a replica of the RMS Titanic (see the article) and it is slated to sail in 2018. I wonder if they will completely flout fate and sail its maiden voyage for April 10?

Titanic set to sail in 2018

To ride or not to ride? That is the question. Not that I could afford it, this is strictly a rhetorical question, but is an interesting quandary. On the one hand, statistically, it should be safe. It should also technologically be safe. I mean, what are the odds that TWO Titanics would sink on their maiden voyage? Right?

On the other hand, the first Titanic was also supposed to be "technologically safe" too and my primitive, superstitious inner monkey-brain thinks it goes against all sense of self-preservation to ride anything that is modeled after such an ill-fated ship.

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you ten extra years of life.

The speaker is Jane McGonigal and I just love her. She's got a PhD Performance Studies and is a game developer.  She has long been a proponent of gaming and has been trying to convince everyone for years that the world would be a better place if everyone would just play more games. She put her money where her mouth is a few years ago when she suffered a severe concussion and almost died and made up a game to help her heal.

This video is from a TED Talk lecture where she challenges the audience to earn 7 1/2 extra minutes on their lives by playing a game with her. The video is 18 minutes, but well worth the watch.

PROMPT:

How do you feel about what Jane McGonigal has to say about games helping people to live better lives?