"Our Art is a Reflection of our Reality"

Our Art is a Reflection of our Reality

I believe in this statement very highly. It is so true and as a writer I know what he means. When I come up with a new story to write, one of the most important things is coming up with characters. Usually, authors base their characters on people they know and the setting of the story is based on their past or present. The traits of the characters could even be based on the lifestyle of the author. When I write I usually do these very same things, basing my story on what is going on in the world or what has already happened and not in a non-fictional way. I use fake settings and characters to reflect my reality and it is very easy to do that.

With the movie and the history it is based on, the reality is very dark, unwelcome, and violent and so the songs that are written are dark, unwelcome, and violent. Also, they used it as a way to describe their reality, they didn’t create fake names and places, and they used the real things to get their statement out there. They used a mirror, reflection, to get people to see what was going on but then the fame started to get to their heads and they started to turn on each other and again they reflected this in their songs.

So, they went from writing music to pay the bills to writing music to spread a statement then to roast each other. Using these song lyrics you can see their lives and what they had to go through with each other and then without each other.

Also, the way they use the tone of their voice in the songs also reflects what they were going through. It was anger and frustration when they sang about the police and government. When they first started out their songs were about dreams of owning a cool car and house and it evolved into hatred for the police and the tone of their voices really showed that. Then when they started to roast each other you could tell how much more anger was in their voices because what is worst then being betrayed by your brothers. That is probably a huge factor in their songs. If people just read the lyrics it probably wouldn’t have had a huge effect on the public but with words they were able to just bash down obstacles and rile up crowds.

With books I can’t say the words for people to hear instead I have to get people invested into characters so that they feel what the characters are feeling and they can come up with their own voices for the characters in their heads. Also, not everybody reads but I can guarantee everybody listens to music, unless you’re deaf. It probably didn’t even start out as a political statement when they were all getting together. They were probably just trying to pay the bills and live the dream of life in the U.S.A.

They call their work art and you see, in the movie, many of the authorities saying that rap is not art. So the statement Ice Cube makes, not only let’s people know that their songs reflect their lives but that they also consider their songs a form of art and it is. Art is everywhere around you and you probably don’t notice it. The books you read, the flag you pledge to, and even the technology you use are all forms of art. So, who were to authorities to say that the NWA’s art was not art at all? It just shows how much the world has changed in just the past two decades. The actual definition for art is just the expression of human creativity and they for sure expressed themselves with every song they wrote and if that is not art than I don’t know what is. I don’t listen to that kind of music but the movie really shows how much of an impact the music had on not only the audience and authorities but also the performers themselves. The songs they created were all that they had. They knew that if they failed that they would have nothing which is probably the craziest thing about this story is that they went for it anyways.

Now if everybody worked as hard as they did at whatever goals they wanted to accomplish, they would probably accomplish them. Everybody has a goal and it is accomplish-able, you just have to work for it no matter what happens. They achieved their goals and went above and beyond but they started to go too far and started to get caught up in their fame and this lead the ultimate breaking up of their group. First you had Ice Cube leave because they were starting to leave him out of things, then you have Dr. Dre leaving because he saw how much they lost sight of their end goal. Now today you see just how far that got them with the death of Eazy-E. Ice Cube is an actor in movies and the rest are just spread out. Now you have people such as Snoop Dog taking the reins on what the NWA started.

To get back on track, their lives are very much so reflected in their songs. The movie shows this by them getting harassed by the police and then they wrote a song saying to eff the police. This is also probably their biggest breakthrough as it gave them the attention they needed when the F.B.I. gave them that notice and even the police speaking to them backstage meant that their statement was definitely getting out there. I am not really a fan of the movie but I do like history and even though this deals with music, it brings attention to how terrible life could be, even in the United States of America. Their art reflected their lives.

Flat Tax or Flat Tire

            My opinion is simple; I would like to have a flat tax rate. This was even used for a short time after the Civil War and people were fine with it. It worked. This “Fair Tax” we have is not fair and the flat tax would be. Everyone would be giving out the same percentage. Say it is 10%, all you are doing is taking a zero off of your income and paying that. So if you made say $300,000, all you would have to pay is $30,000 leaving you with $270,000. This would be the best way especially for times like these. The federal government relied on sales tax before income tax and they were doing just fine and fair tax didn’t even arrive until the 1990s. Income tax didn’t arrive until 1913 with the 16^th amendment. I just think that they want more and more money. By “they” I mean the government. I mean people we don’t get to elect, people who are just hired get to make up our laws and regulations and are paid with our money. That just seems a little weird and I am not really a fan of that. So flat tax is the way to go and who knows, maybe it will actually help with our terrible economy which is just going to keep getting worse. Also with flat tax we might actually be able to get the unemployment rate reduced. Maybe crime rates would also go down because people would actually be able to hold a job and keep a good chunk of money. If this makes federal workers angry than they should quit because if they actually cared about what the laws and regulations they make did they shouldn’t care what they get paid and what we have to pay.

Criminal Deviance

At the Oregon Social Learning Center, Tom Dishion and his colleagues studied if deviant behavior was affected by deviant talk. So he had 13 and 14 year old kids be interviewed about some of the activities they did. Very few out of the kids said they never did criminal deviant acts. The others admitted to it though and a lot of it. Some of the kids even said the same things as others and this proved that when a kid does a criminal deviant act, he or she is never alone. Delinquents will always act in groups. The things that the kids admitted to were getting drunk and doing drugs. Some even admitted to victimizing girls and were proud of it. Tom found it astonishing at how open the kids were and furthered his research with the next part of his experiment. He now had his colleagues laugh whenever one of the delinquents mentioned a criminal deviant act and he found out that the kids would talk more on the subject the more laughter they got. These kids were being recorded and yet they just did not care about how much they said because all they wanted was some attention.

Mike Tyson and Freddie Gray: Failed by Society or Themselves

I believe that they both failed themselves. Starting with Mike, I know that he grew up in a bad neighborhood where he was expected to do things. Or was he because the person that asked him what he was doing was not a part of the gun shooting. By this I believe that Mr. Tyson did have a choice and that he did not say that in the article so that he could look like a victim. Then he went on to be a great success within boxing so I guess you could say that he was not failed by society which again leaves that fact that he failed himself. He has to live with what he said in the article and no amount of fame is going to change that. Just because you say you grow up in a horrible environment doesn’t mean you have to be horrible yourself. I know that this just sounds horrible and that Mike Tyson was a victim but was he. He, just like everyone else, had choices and he just made those choices out of, more than likely, fear.

Now, Freddie Gray definitely failed himself. The article is very clear about that. You can’t expect to get a job when you have a huge criminal record. Seriously he was a big time criminal and he tried to get a job and he even expected the person to say yes. Just like Mike Tyson and everyone else, Mr. Gray had choices and he didn’t make bad ones out of fear, he probably made them out of knowledge. What he did is probably all he knew how to do. This does not mean that people should take pity on him and hire him. The amount of trouble he could have caused may be unimaginable and you can’t blame them for not hiring him. He was even known to the police so what he did was one huge thing or a lot of multiple little, but bad, things. So I don’t think society failed Freddie Gray. He definitely failed himself.

Both of these men failed themselves. 

Racism: Western or Universal

Race and Racism (Western Colonialism)

So, if racism was supposedly started in the 15^th century, then the founding of America was right along with it since that also happened in the 15^th century. America was discovered in 1492 and the 15^th century was the 1400's. One of the lines I read in the article was about how powerful societies will always look at lesser people as inferior and the reason I liked it was because it shows that history will repeat itself. Also, I do believe that they may be right in the article when they explain how Africans were not Christians and that because of this they were treated like heathens, and that this was the start of racism. Then as I touched on before with America, colonization of the world began. Columbus set out on his voyages and the Portuguese imitated. For colonization, these explorers believed they needed free labor so this is where slavery came in. Then revolutions began and soon it came to the 20^th century. This is where racism takes off again because there is no longer slavery so all every one believed was that they had to be prejudice. This is where civil rights movements started and how we ended up where we are today.

How Racist Are We?

Everyone is racist and some may not know it yet. Everyone is racist but racism doesn’t have to be bad. You can be racist against a group because it is the truth and may make some things more efficient. Anyways, there is racism everywhere and the article states this fact. There is no escape so why not make it better instead of viewing it as an awful thing. Then it moves on to telling the difference between individualism and racism. With racism you judge a person by their skin color and maybe where they and/or their parents are from. With individualism you judge a person by their intelligence and capabilities. Then it moves on to explain how racism is not just a white people problem. The article also says that the human race has much more in common when you are an individual rather than being in a group. When in a group the majority rules and there is no swaying but when individual you make your own decisions. The only problem with this is that as an individual, your voice will not be heard.  This is all saying that racism is the perspective of a group and not of an individual like the world would want us to believe.

Cultural Bias for Racism

Researchers wanted to figure out why people would even be racist, sexist and ageist against their own people. They say that some studies have shown these things to be universal. Then they found out that media and literature could very well be contributing to these stereotypes. The reason they contribute is because they all show the very same things over and over again. By doing this, it just strengthens it in people’s heads about what is right and what is wrong. The research went on to study participants and the answers they gave over prejudice questions. The studied it both positively and negatively. Their response times were also taken into account with the study. They found that the work “black” was used more with words such as lazy and musical but not goofy. The word “white” was used more with words such as greedy and successful. This just went to show that people are now more acceptable of stereotypes than before. People have grown accustomed to sayings and act more upon gut reaction than behavior. A way they say to fix is not to put stereotypes out there as clearly or people are going to latch on to it and quickly.

Opinion

I personally believe that racism is a Western concept and not universal. I also believe that media has played a big part in escalating things very quickly. The third article states, “Literature, movies, TV, radio and the Internet all contribute to the problem by exhibiting the same stereotypes that others work so hard to snuff out.” I believe that racism started in the 15^th century which is the 1400's. During this time period, the mindset to go out and explore was huge. Europe wanted to colonize everywhere but they wanted more man power. The first article states, “In the Iberian cities of Seville and Lisbon, witnessing who labored for whom daily solidified the association between blackness and slavery.” With this the Europeans sought out Africans to enslave, not because they were racist against them but because it was what was accepted at the time. Over time they began to treat Africans badly because of their beliefs not because of their race. The Africans were not Christians so they were treated as heathen. Also, like I said, they were not enslaved because of racism they were enslaved because it would be more efficient. The second article states, “I discriminate in favor of people I think can hold down a job and do decently at it.” I don’t think that racism is everywhere just yet but it will be. Again, I believe it is a Western concept.

Lord of the Flies Blog

Prompt 1

Everyone knows that death is a part of life. Everybody also knows that this death can be brought on earlier by certain things such as storms, disease, and murder. Every single person on this earth can kill anyone they want because everyone knows how. Some people on this planet kill for sport and some kill in defense. Is there an in between? We may never know because we would first have to come to accept that sometimes killing in defense and for sport can sometimes be the same thing. It all depends on the savagery of the person. Some people would rather not give the luxury of death. These are the insane people that are on this earth.

Prompt 2                

If the separation between being civilized and savaged was no longer there, which would take over? This all depends on the person and their moral standings. It depends on which part of them is stronger. Most people would say that savagery would be the one to take over, but I don’t believe that to be true in all cases. Sometimes it may look like savagery when a person kills another person but it could also be fear.  Savagery just seems like it is the stronger of the two but really it is the weaker just disguising itself as the stronger through intimidation.

Prompt 3                

Civilization is created through the coming together of people. With civilization comes society. Now, are people controlling society or being controlled? I believe that people are controlled by society. This is why whenever there is someone who breaks off and rebels for his or her own cause, people immediately go against that person.  They are always thrown into the belief that they have rights and that the people are in charge when in fact they are doing exactly what society expects them to do. Say you have an apple and that the apple represents society and the seeds in the core are people. Now you cut the apple in half and expect the seeds to stay but every once in a while a seed will fall out and what do you do with it? You throw it away.

The "Lottery"

1. No. I realized something was wrong when they sort of redrew. He lulls us by using the word lottery and having people gather together telling jokes and smiling.
2. A small town. It makes it all seem isolated and strange. It makes me anticipate the ending more.
3. All of them seem to have a role and act as if it is normal. She was the one who said it wasn't fair and then she becomes the winner.
4. Lottery is ironic because it usually is great to be the winner. Also it is ironic when Mrs. Hutchinson says it isn't fair for her husband and then she ends up drawing and winning the lottery.
5. Graves is the easiest one of the lot. It obviously points to death so it is a symbol. Another one is that the lottery is held in the summer and the official is named Summers.
7. The black box and spot symbolize death. Black is usually the color of death and the box being battered means that it has been around for a while which makes it tradition. Tradition is not something people like to get rid of.
8. She is using it as an analogy.
9. Certain religious groups.
10. War itself.

Lottery today is a way to win money and most people look at it as a necessity. The lottery in the story tells us a lot more about human nature. It tells that tradition is not easily let go. A man, named Warner from the story, was the oldest in the town and he was telling everyone to hurry it up and stone the woman quickly so he can go back home. This also says, especially for today, how much the human race has grown to except violence. Back in the 60’s, BBC started up a show and it soon got cancelled because it was too violent. This show was later revived and 2005 and now we have TV shows that are so violent that they get better ratings the more violent they are. The Walking Dead (an amazing show) is one of these. The show is so violent that people from the 60’s or earlier would never have green lit it to air on TV. Since this story was written after World War II, I can see the point she was trying to get across. Times have changed significantly and they are just going to keep changing through time.

President Trump Fires Acting U.S. Attorney General

1. She is an Obama appointee serving as, or was, acting Attorney General.
2. His cabinet picks were delayed.
3. She betrayed him by telling people not to defend his immigration order. The White House said she is weak on borders and illegal immigration.
4. It was the right thing to do. She said that it was her job.

Barnga

1.       Frustrating

2.       I expected everything to fall apart and not go as planned.

3.       I wasn’t looking for anything wrong because I had already expected it to be wrong.

4.       I just went with it, although I was very angry at some points.

5.       It was frustrating.

6.       Yes, it is just a game. That is what you say to people who get angry over a game.

7.       Yes but every one still has to have their own uniqueness.

8.       We are competitive.

Sociological Mindfulness

     This video felt very negative. At first, I was agreeing with the guy but then I felt that he was just going too far. I always try to put myself in other people's shoes but when you tell American's that they are all wrong and then expect them to listen is not right. His analogy with China just doesn't make sense. The United States is home to a lot of Muslims and other religious races, so where do they fit in with his analogy. So, I did not agree fully with him but it did show me just how far people will go to get their way.

     But, like I said, I try to put myself in other people's shows and these are a couple of examples. One time I was on a roller coaster and I put myself in the shows of the person controlling the roller coaster. He had the most boring job ever. He had to deal with crabby kids and adults, he had to watch everybody have fun, and he had to do everything right under pressure. Another time I put myself in my uncle's shows. He was in the military and he would tell me stories, occasionally. One of the stories was that his Commanding Officer was challenging his squad. The challenge was that the CO and whoever accepted would do push-ups. If the CO stopped first the one who accepted would get two meals. If the CO won, the one who accepted would get no meal. My uncle accepted this challenge but he said that the person who one was up to me.

     Lastly, I see myself fitting into the big picture of society by helping raise money donations for several places that need. This would help the country like it always has in the past.

Intelligence

Nash Equilibrium – a state of balance

Game Theory – knowing your opponents move before hand as strategy

Prisoner’s Dilemma – two people have to make a choice without knowing the other’s decision

Prisoner’s Dilemma Game

                After playing the game a couple of times, I think that it is a very strategic game. It looks simple but there is more to it than meets the eye. I just imagine a situation that would involve these choices. I feel like if you cooperate and then compete you are betraying the other person.

In History – War; knowing the enemies moves beforehand

In Government – knowing the other world powers moves beforehand

In Economics – You have two firms, Pepsi and Coca-Cola and each makes there prices high but one will compete and lower their price taking consumers away from the other.

In Sociology – playing chess

In Psychology – playing chess

In my everyday life – playing chess

Election Reflection

During this election I seemed to pay attention to it more than the last two. It is probably because I am older. I learned that this election system is terrible since it allowed two terrible candidates to be the final two. We had a business man who wasn’t a politic and then we had a brain-damaged, sick, liar. I also learned a lot about the Electoral College and that the popular vote is just a sort of guide. I learned that they didn’t really talk about issues. I know that some of those issues are important but they never talked about it. All they did was argue with each other.

My ten predictions for Donald Trump:

1    He will form relations with Russia and China.

      He will put portraits of himself all over the White House.

     He will make America great again.

     He will form a lot of jobs.

     He will deport all the illegals.

     He will eventually come around to putting Hillary in prison

     He will not get rid of our debt.

      He will win the next election.

      He will not be able end ISIS.

       He will lower taxes.

Who am I?

I am HJG and I am very quiet in public but when at home I will speak my mind. I am annoyed very easily but I usually ignore it.  I was born in 1999, on April 8, in Sisseton. I like to solve puzzles and write. I also like to play games.

Donald Trump, Sociopath or Narcissist

I think that Donald Trump is a sociopath. Both of my sources also claim the same thing. The big reason is that he lacks a conscience and believe it or not, he is anti-social. Both of these are connected to the reasons as to why he will give people names, for example: “Lyin’ Ted”, “Little Marco”, and “Crooked Hillary”. He does this because he doesn’t know how to get along with other people. Also, calling Ms. Universe Ms. Piggy is another example.

                It is stated in one of the sources that this kind of disorder would have started in his childhood or early teens. Another reason as to why he is anti-social is his inflated and arrogant self-appraisal. The way you can tell that he thinks this way is that he thinks that ordinary work and normal laws, such as taxes, are beneath him. Also he has a lack of realistic concern for current problems and the future. Also, he is very self-assured and you can tell this by how cocky he is about winning the presidency.

                He could also be a narcissist while he is but he is more of a sociopath. Another example as to why he is a sociopath is because that he is a huge risk taker. He wants the countries we protect to pay us to protect them. This could end up with countries not wanting our protection and siding with the enemy or an enemy. He also wants to stop trade with China. He mentions China a lot so we believe he is right so he feels he is doing the right thing. These are all of the reasons as to why I think that Trump is more of a sociopath than a narcissist. I still think that he is better than Hillary though.

https://www.quora.com/Is-Donald-Trump-a-sociopath

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/07/trump-and-sociopathy/491966/

My Amendment

I think that there is a need for an amendment that forces you to say the pledge of allegiance and to have the proper pose while saying it. It is just terrible when someone doesn’t do it because they feel they aren’t treated equally.  The amendment would look like this:

               

      Under this law no man, women, or child shall disrespect the flag during the pledge in any way. Every man, woman, and child shall say the pledge and have the proper pose while doing so. Disrespect to the flag in any way will give that man, woman, or child a punishment or fine.

The 5th and 6th Amendments

The 5^th Amendments

The 5^th amendment states that no person shall be held to answer for an infamous crime unless they are accused by a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in time of War. Also, no one has to be witness against themselves or be charged for the same crime twice.

A person can be tried for a serious federal crime only if he or she has been indicted (charged, accused of a crime) by a grand jury. No one may be subjected to double jeopardy – that is, tried twice for the same crime. All persons are protected against self-incrimination; no person can be legally compelled to answer any question in any governmental proceeding if that answer could lead to that person’s prosecution. The 5^th amendment’s Due Process Clause prohibits unfair, arbitrary actions by the Federal Government. Government may take private property for a legitimate public purpose; but when it exercises that power of eminent domain, it must pay a fair price for the property seized.

The 5^th amendment was created as procedural safeguards designed to protect the rights of the criminally accused and to secure life, liberty, and property. Another fact about the amendment is a saying. The saying is very common and it is, “I plead the 5^th”. People mostly say this when they don’t want to say anything at all. There are probably thousands upon thousands of examples I could use but the most recent and most interesting one was The Fast and Furious case. Not the movie. It dealt with an operation that had gone wrong. The US had sent more than 2000 guns to a Mexican drug cartel and later these weapons were found at the scene of a murdered border agent. The 5^th was pleaded by Patrick Cunningham, the chief of the Criminal Division of the US Attorney’s Office in Arizona.

The 6^th Amendment

The 6^th amendment guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you.

A person accused of crime has the right to be tried in court without undue delay and by an impartial jury. The defendant must be informed of the charge upon which he or she is to be tried, has the right to cross-examine hostile witnesses, and has the right to require the testimony of favorable witnesses. The defendant also has the right to be represented by an attorney at every stage in the criminal process.

When the sixth amendment was being created there were localized sheriffs of sorts, there was no such thing as a police force yet. These sheriffs of sorts were normal people volunteering to be constables or night watchmen. Criminal cases were also brought by victims, not public prosecutors. Both defendants had to represent themselves. Trials were like shouting matches and each side brought in witnesses. These would last for minutes or hours, not days. The 6^th amendment would strengthen this to how it is now today.

Classical Conditioning

Unconditioned stimulus: Use the Skyy Vodka and you will have an attractive woman by your side.

Conditioned Stimulus: Skyy Vodka

Unconditioned Response: Happiness or excitement to the Skyy Vodka or to the attractive female.Conditioned response: Happiness or excitement to Skyy Vodka.

Skill Teaching

The only thing I can remember teaching is trying to teach my second cousin how to do a back flip. The way I taught him was pretty simple. He had a trampoline so we started on that. I told to jump, lean back, and tuck in his legs until he thought that it felt right to land. It took a while but he finally got it down except for the landing. He would just keep landing on his knees because he would stretch his legs back out to late. I solved this problem pretty easily. I told him to count from when he would jump to when he would stretch out is legs. He said it took 3 seconds. So I told him to stretch out when he got to 2. He landed it. Finally. Then it was time for the hard part. Trying on the solid ground. On solid ground you aren't going to jump as high so you have to be faster in your movements. It 3 tries for him to do it but again he was landing on his knees but I didn't have tell how to fix it. He got down on his fourth try. That is how I taught someone how to do a back flip.

Psychological Articles

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160914090317.htm

1.        This article was about the older you get your brain will strategically slow down aging.

2.       More than 1.

3.       Yes. They used younger people to compare.

4.       They were chosen at random.

5.       They observed the test subjects on how they observed things.

6.       They reacted normally.

7.       Yes.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160913120618.htm

1.       This article was about using your perception of the environment to guide action that has a new understanding of the neural circuits.

2.       More than 1.

3.       There was no control group.

4.       The subjects were chosen randomly.

5.       They would observe how there brain reacted to the environment.

6.       The subjects didn’t react because it was their brain that was being observed.

7.       Yes and no. They expected brain activity but they found knew things in the neurons of the perspective area.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160908130848.htm

1.       The article was about studying when we picture a place, we picture more than we are asked or have panoramic memories.

2.       More than 1.

3.       There was no control group.

4.       The subjects were random people.

5.       They put VR (Virtual Reality) headsets on them which showed them a 100 degree image but the brain saw two 360 degree images.

6.       No reaction was recorded.

7.       Yes.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160912122608.htm

1.       The article was about trying to train the brain to treat itself with therapy when under traumatic stress.

2.       There were 42 participants, then 40 participants.

3.       Yes, there were two different experiments to compare.

4.       Randomly chosen.

5.       They downregulated the oxygen blood level in their brains and added a mental strategy which created an amygdala, or an indicator of regulation.

6.       They were pleased.

7.       Yes.

Colin Kaepernick

I will just start out saying that I don’t follow football or any kind of sport but what this player did was terrible. Now you may say that he has a right that he doesn’t have to but the way he did it was the problem. Why respect the flag of a country that oppresses blacks? Come on, they are not the only race in the country even world that are oppressed. Statistics even show that whites are the most killed race when it comes to police brutality but you don’t hear the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement talking about that. I don’t know if he is a part of that movement but I thought I would bring it up. Back to his rights, you could say that under the first amendment he was okay doing what he did, but it was the way he executed it afterwards with saying things about oppression.  I think that if you are an American citizen or even foreign than you need to respect the flag. People of all races are spending their lives to protect this country and you can’t say that your race is oppressed. If you believe that then leave and see how the rest of the world is. This is getting out of hand and I am actually pretty mad. Plus, if anyone tries to even hint to him that what he did was wrong he will accuse them of oppressing him and being racist. This is just making matters worse and it is going to keep getting worse if something isn’t done about it. Again, what he did was terrible and I don’t even know the guy but if he feels that way then he can pack up his bags and leave this country and try his luck somewhere else because what he did was wrong, first amendment or not.