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Archive for year: 2015
The Effect TV has on Children
When I began reading the article, “University of Michigan Health System,” I immediately knew where this was going. I also began to question myself on the topics that were being mentioned in this article. Moreover, I am able to understand why a lot of parents or people may think that certain TV programs may impact children.
The topic, “Can TV Scare or Traumatize Kids,” is the most common thing to think about when children are watching TV. When a child is watching TV, you don’t want them watching scary movies because you know they’ll have nightmares and be scared for the rest of the day. Like the article states, “Symptoms of being frightened or upset by TV stories can include bad dreams, anxious feelings, being afraid of being alone, withdrawing from friends, and missing school.” This can be somewhat true when it comes to a child being impacted by something they watch.
The most common thing I can think about when it comes to children missing school that can be caused by watching TV is that they become afraid of possibly being bullied. Some TV shows may portray going to school as something scary by the way they make it appear. It reminds me of myself when I was younger and thinking that what if I ever needed braces and I went to school with them, will I get called “brace face,” or “metal mouth.” Little things like that may make a child afraid of school because of what they watch on TV and how certain things are portrayed on TV.
eReader Children as Consumers
Like Sonia this article also stood out to me. While reading this I thought why can’t adults learn to teach their kids to ask questions about what is going on on TV. I want to know why can’t the older generation explain the message that the commercials are trying to give and correct the minds of the youth and tell them that we don’t agree with this advertisement. As I got further into this article the author did mention that they do believe in educating children to understand the purpose of context of marketing so that they can interpret commercial communications. I think this is also the target for (AML). I hope that in the next few years to come media literacy is being taught more in schools because children in America are watching the most commercials. Another part that surprised me while reading was that there is still ways to get around the codes that they enforce on television commercials. Like in the UK they banned junk food ads that are aimed to children under the age of 16 however commercials can still be played during family shows so there still is a way for children to be watching these commercials. Reading this article was hard because we know what the problem is and for now it still hasn’t been fixed.
Media Phobia
Adults started to wonder if media negatively influenced their children? they also thought technology was a distraction from their school work. Do you guys think this is the biggest issue in this chapter? apparently people thought the reason why their children lacked social skills and weren’t meeting their childhood requirements was blamed on media. Even though this is an issue its not the Biggest issue. A few factors of media phobia spoke out to me, and even broke my heart a little. I will point out a few.
The biggest crisis American children face today is poverty. The rate of poverty in America has now a rate of two or three times higher than other industrialized nations. Most of these children are under the age of 18 years old, I could not believe this is happening right now. I always knew this was an issue but never knew it was this extreme.
915 children were killed in 2010, by their parents, I could not even express my feelings towards these actions. My only question is why ? why would parents do such things. this fact was also in the poverty section. I Could not believe some parents and also teachers would kill children.
overall, this chapter was a great way of learning new things of media and pop culture.
The Heart Attack Grill…NOT for Children!
Recently, I watched a news clip about a restaurant in Las Vegas called “Heart Attack Grill”. Although I had heard about this restaurant a few years ago, I was surprised to see that it still currently going strong. On the website wwww.heartattackgrill.com, one finds a menu of 8,000 calorie burgers and French fries fried in lard, among other monstrosities such as full butterfat milkshakes. Additionally, customers weighing in over 350 pounds eat for free. The waitstaff are dressed up as nurses and “spank” you at the end of the meal if you do not finish your meal. Although I realize that the “concept” is supposed to be all in fun, the reality is that the sensationalism of this restaurant, the free food for obese patrons, and the cartoon-y brand-imaging of this establishment, all in the ends seem to glorify unhealthy eating choices. Since customers are REALLY being fed the funny items on the menu (even for free) and are rewarded for finishing (customer gets a glory-lap seated in a wheelchair) and for being morbidly obese, there is no realistic learning about cardiac health or anything else from this example. If a customer does not finish his/her meal, punishment is administered, reinforcing overeating.
My initial reaction was that this would NOT be an establishment that should be around, especially if children are allowed to eat there! Not only are there terrible food choices, but no real no vegetarian options. In fact, there is a “Vegan” menu but it consists of a pack of cigarettes. To confirm that this place would be bad for a child, I found a Yelp posting stating:” You can get paddled by your waitress which was happening right next to us. We saw a little child get egged on by his family to get paddled and he screamed an agony.” I suppose this means that in addition to being offered poor food choices, a child could be bullied for not finishing the meal?
With faster lifestyles, cheaper fast food options and bad role modelling, it’s no wonder children have been given permission by example in today’s society. I was interested in finding out what the American Heart Association had to say concerning pediatrics and cardiovascular health so I went to their website at http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/110/15/2266.full. The fact that American children are experiencing increases in childhood obesity brings alarm to me. In fact on looking for the statistics, I found that obesity among children has more than doubled and in adolescents, has quadrupled in the past 30 years! (Ogden, 2012). For children, this means that they are more likely to experience high cholesterol, pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, low self-esteem, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems and more…conditions that are not usually associated with pediatric health, but in adults (Hayman, 2015). Pediatric cardiac health is detrimentally being affected, a fact supported by autopsy studies that show positive associations between established risk factors from childhood obesity and the presence and extent of atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta and coronary arteries of children (Berenson, Srinivasan, Bao, Newman, Tracy, 1998).
Although the Heart Attack Grill glorifies themselves and act tongue and cheek about their establishment, regular known customers have died. Sadly their chief spokesperson, a 575-pound, 29 year old male, passed away last year. This restaurant may have a “fun”, comical image, but if a regular customer that is obese regularly eats there and dies at 29 years old, how do we explain to the next generation that that’s ok, just laugh and eat there anyway? Unfortunately, restaurants such as the Heart Attack Grill are not helping our future generation to stay healthy, only providing yet another horrible choice to the young generation. I would rather see a restaurant make more efforts to glorify healthy choices and show the next generation options that directly affect cardiac health positively, and show them that their hearts will say thank you with a long, healthy life. On a last note, the waitstaff dress up as nurses…that makes me even more sad and concerned, as it pollutes the sincere desire of real nurses to educate and care for patients’ health.
References:
Castillo, S. (2014, August 9). Heart Attack Grill Killed 2 People, But Owner Says ‘Business Is Good’ . http://www.medicaldaily.com/jon-basso-owner-heart-attack-grill-comes-bad-his-high-calorie-burgers-new-showtime-series-297394.
CDC (2015, August 27). Childhood Obesity Facts. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm.
Hayman, L. (2015). A Statement for Health and Education Professionals and Child Health Advocates From the Committee on Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, and Obesity in Youth (AHOY) of the Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young, American Heart Association. http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/110/15/2266.full
Ogden C. (2012). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. Journal of the American Medical Association 2014;311(8):806-814.
Blog 3. Social Issues
Hey everyone, so here are some important social issues that I feel quite passionately about. First, sexual harassment and gender equality is a very important social issue that needs to be corrected. I also think the LGBTQ community and their cause is another important social issue, and I believe the hate against their opposition (mainly religious) is a social issue that needs to be focused on as well.
Sexual harassment can occur every day, whether it is in class, dorm rooms, parties and bars, or just walking down the street. I honestly believe it is even strong in college. Many people, guys especially, come to college with the only intention of having sex with as many women as possible. I have seen guys resort to our more brutish and almost animal-like instincts here. Some gentlemen constantly rate and berate women and see them only as a pair of legs and want what is in between them, when there is actually so much more of course especially at college. What I have seen happen is women become so defensive, that it hard to approach someone even on an academic level or as friends. This causes gender discrimination against men as well, like a common thought that “All men are pigs”. In class, some professors may treat people different based on their gender. I have constantly seen male professors pay more attention to women then men. Gender equality obviously goes both ways and requires both men and women to work together to fix issues with gender and sexual harassment.
Another important social issue is the discrimination towards the LGBTQ community. The world is changing quickly, and no matter a person’s religion or sexual preference, LGBTQ people should be accepted. I am not saying a religious person should accept a gay person’s beliefs, but the person should be accepted for who he/she/transgender is. Discrimination of any sort is negative.
On the flip side of this issue, with the changing times many religious people are being discriminated against because they are religious. People should be able to believe in whatever they want to, and they should not be berated for their beliefs. Many people who support the LGBTQ or are part of the LGBTQ community instantly cast hate upon religious people because they do not accept the LGBTQ communities beliefs. Like I previously stated, discrimination of any sort is negative and not healthy socially to any community. People fear what they do not understand, and this completely goes both way for the LGBTQ community and the people who oppose their lifestyle. I believe the hate against religious people for the way they feel about the LGBTQ community is an important social issue that is not focused on as much. My two best friends are gay, but I also have religious friends and am slightly religious myself so I feel like I have seen and heard both sides of the story.
Thank you for reading, and I can’t wait to see what social issues my classmates bring to class.
-Ryland
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Impeachment: Contextualizing a Primary Document
**This is an example of how one can contextualize a primary source document using “soft research” skills. It is not authorized for reuse by anyone, under any condition, except with the expressed consent of Sean Kelly, Professor of Political Science, California State University Channel Islands.***
On November 6, 1973 Charles Withuhn of Chico, California, wrote to Harold T. “Bizz” Johnson to express his opinion about the potential impeachment of then-President Richard Nixon. Earlier in 1973 evidence began to mount that President Nixon was involved in a plan aimed at collecting information on his political enemies. The conspiracy and the aftermath that followed is known as Watergate.
In Mr. Withuhn’s opinion, the time had come to remove the president from office using Congress’s power of impeachment. Section 4 of the Constitution provides that “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High crimes and Misdemeanors.” Article 1, Section 2 provides the House with the power to impeach the president—that is, to promulgate a bill of particular justifications for removal of the president—which is approved by a simple majority in the House. The Senate can remove the president with a two-thirds majority of Senators (Article 1, Section 3).
Mr. Withuhn argues that the Congress, up to this point, has not exercised its full constitutional powers. “Congress has not realized its power in my lifetime.” In his view “…Congress has the responsibility to limit the President or history must indite [sic] Congress as an excessory [sic] to a desperate man.” He seems to be arguing that if Congress fails to remove the president they are culpable for Nixon’s illegal actions.
One wonders what might have motivated Mr. Withuhn to send a letter to Bizz Johnson. Three weeks prior to this letter it was discovered that Nixon recorded all conversations and telephone calls in the Oval Office. These tapes were powerful evidence and Nixon refused to turn them over. About two weeks prior to this letter, Richard Nixon fired Archibald Cox, a special prosecutor who was assigned to investigate the events surrounding Watergate. This became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” as several of Nixon’s aids refused to carry out the order to fire Cox and were fired themsleves. Robert Bork, who would later be nominated to the Supreme Court—a nomination defeated in the Senate—was the White House aid who ultimately carried out Nixon’s order.
While the writer does not mention these events, it is likely that these events are reflected in his general feeling that the presidency requires “complete honesty and openness without which there can be no public confidence.” Withuhn does suggest that Bizz, as a member of Congress, has a responsibility to reflect the wishes of his constituents. “As a registered voter of Chico, I ask you to speak up now, loud enough for all to hear, that at least some of the people you represent demand the impeachment of the President now.”
Formal articles of impeachment were never brought forward against President Nixon. As the House moved toward approving articles of impeachment in August 1974, President Nixon resigned. This document is a reflection of the strong feelings that many Americans had about the events surrounding Watergate. Never in our history has a president been removed from office by Congress. But at the time, Mr. Withuhn was willing to push Bizz Johnson toward that action. In his words, the removal of Nixon was “the only remaining way to restore pride in our government…”
