Blog #11 - In My Humble Opinion 2

Health Care Reform


Word count: 381


In my humble opinion, health care reform is not a good idea because it will create feuds between the upper, middle and lower classes.

There is no doubt that the lack of health care within the American population is a travesty, but the federal budget is already extremely screwed up.


Obama wants to take funds out of the federal budget, but his claim that millions of dollars in savings have been found seems a bit far-fetched.


The main problem with this statement is that our nation is in debt trillions of dollars as it is, which means that there is no amount of money that will justify free health care for everyone in the United States. 


Aside from a lack of funds, the attempt at changing health care is also detrimental to everyone's ability to choose their health care provider.


By placing everyone under the same umbrella of health care coverage it depletes an individual's ability to choose a doctor who they are comfortable with or who they have known for an extended period of time.


Even though Obama promises that you will be able to keep your current doctor, there is evidence that strongly suggests an inability for private practice doctors to stay afloat without opting to buy into the government health plan.


This means that your private practice doctor will assimilate into the ranks of the free health care system.


The wording by Obama seems trustworthy unless you read deeper into the fine print.


Another problem is that there doesn't seem to be any explanation as to how government health care will provide assistance to people with already existing medical conditions.


Obama has good intentions, but his reasoning and procedures to bring about health coverage for everyone are way out of line.


He hasn't taken into consideration the true effects health care reform will have on people.


Not only is there not enough money to cover the costs of millions of individuals, it also negates the ability of an individual to choose the service provider of his or her choice.


Health care reform is an issue that should probably be saved for a later time.


At the moment, American should be more concerned with solving out national debt than spending more federal money on a program that seems flawed.  




Source:


http://articles.cnn.com/2009-06-18/health/ep.health.reform.basics_1_health-insurance-health-care-reform-americans?_s=PM:HEALTH

Ad Redirect

This particular Penzoil ad is focused towards a country music audience because of the use of Tim McGraw as a spokesperson.

 It is also focused towards men because the car portrayed is a jeep that has been driven in the mud and dirt.

The ad embodies the idea of masculinity.

To change the target audience to more gender neutral in something like National Geographic, it would be best to use a more gender neutral car such as an SUV.

The ad should not have a spokesperson at all and instead the current tag line should read "Dare to explore the world around you."

These changes will allow for a more general target audience with a shared passion for traveling and exploring rather than males who enjoy country music.

Fish Out Of Water Broadcast Clip

Blog #7 - Japanese Internment Memorial essay

Word count: 547


After the attack on Pearl Harbor war-hysteria and paranoia caused the United States to isolate thousands of Japanese Americans on the West Coast and in Hawaii.


Those who dwelled in Hawaii faired better, as only a small percentage of Japanese Americans who lived in Hawaii were interned.


For those less fortunate, harsh living conditions and relocation became their fate.


Oddly enough, 110,000 Japanese Americans were interned on the West Coast, but only a small percentage of the 150,000 Japanese Americans were interned from Hawaii.  


With hysteria on the rise, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order 9066, which allowed for the creation of exclusion zones that would be used to seclude the Japanese Americans from the rest of society.


To many, the actions taken by the United States seemed questionable, but the Supreme Court upheld many of the decisions made at the cost of thousands of Japanese Americans lives.


With support from the Supreme Court and aid from the Census Bureau, Japanese Americans had no chance at escaping the fate that fell before them.


Their lives were shattered in mere seconds and they lost everything.  


It is a classic example or prejudice and ignorance on the part of the United States.


To represent the atrocities committed against many Japanese Americans at the time of their internment, Ruth Asawa drew upon her own personal story and created a memorial to the men, women and children who had their lives taken away from them.


Asawa was a Japanese American citizen at the time of the internment and her father had been an American citizen for over 40 years when he was taken away by the FBI.  


Asawa and the rest of her family were then sent to Santa Anita race track in Arcadia, California.


This experience became a valuable part of Asawa's life because while she was there she learned about art from Disney animators who had also been sent to the internment camp.


One such vignette on Asawa's memorial depicts people drawing on easels, which commemorates her experience as a child.


I found this vignette compelling because it demonstrates beauty in a time of difficulty and crisis.


Asawa's experience allowed her to become the person and artist she is today.


San Jose State also played a role in interning Japanese American's.


Uchida Hall was used as a registration and collection point for many Japanese American's before they were sent off to internment camps.  


It is sad to realize this because many of the vignette's portrayed in the memorial show soldiers with guns watching those being held there in case they try to escape.


It is strange to realize that the institution I now attend contributed to prejudices against another race without any actual reason to do so.  


The last vignette that I found compelling was of the athletics within the internment camps themselves.


This vignette struck me because it portrays the continuation of life within the confines of the internment camps.


Despite having their lives taken away, Japanese Americans found ways to continue living and building community with one another.  


I do not believe that something of this magnitude could happen again in our society because of the strides we've made towards equality.


There would be an outcry for liberation and upheaval if any group of individuals were treated like this today.

Fish Out of Water: Queer and Asian Panel

Word count: 439

Attending the "Queer and Asian Panel: Religion and Spirituality" on campus gave me a much deeper look into the views and lifestyles of others who are much different from myself.

The event itself was very small scale and was held in the Mod A building on Tuesday from 6-7:30 p.m.

The panel consisted of four individuals from various religious and cultural backgrounds.

The thing that tied them all together was their Asian background, which played a role in not only their religion, but also their gender choices and how it has affected their families as well as themselves.

The religious backgrounds consisted of Buddhism, Catholicism, Christianity and agnostic.

Ethnic backgrounds consisted of Vietnamese, Korean and Mexican.

After hearing each panelist speak about his or her life I began to understand the intense diversity our world has to offer.

It was difficult to wrap my head around certain ideas at times because of my heavily Christian upbringing.

The ideas and beliefs I heard were very foreign to me at times, which prompted me to think about my own views and beliefs as a person.

It was quite evident that the ties between gender and religion go hand in hand in many cases.

Because many religions do not condone homosexuality, the panelists explained the changes and alterations each of them made in order to continue practicing their religion.

In one case, one of the panelists dropped her religion completely and became agnostic.

Because of religious rules and family concerns, it makes sexual variation a very difficult process to incorporate within one's life.

At times, the answers each panelist had to the questions concerning their religion and family lives made me very sad because each of their answers had undertones of hopelessness.

That doesn't necessarily mean they are all sad, but it was very apparent that each of them is fighting a continuous battle both in their outside lives and within themselves.

This outside battle for many of them is in large part due to their parents and the traditional Asian lifestyles they have been raised in.

The lack of understanding on the parents behalf is a direct result, in most cases, of the religion they partake in.

From this I came to realize that we all have something inside of ourselves that we are battling.

Every person has struggles and dilemmas in their lives because we are all human beings.

If we step back from the labels and titles we all wear on a consistent basis we may finally begin to see one another for who we are as people and not our sexual orientations or religious affiliations.

Japanese Internment Summary

Word count: 310

In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were placed in what the United States called, "War Relocation Camps," but in all reality they were concentration camps.

Despite the reasoning behind these unethical camps, treatment was subjective to location for Japanese Americans.

All Japanese Americans on the West Coast were interned, but only a small percentage of Japanese Americans in Hawaii were given similar treatment.

This is odd because at the time there were more than 150,000 Japanese Americans who made up more than a third of Hawaii's population.

Executive order 9066 was put into effect on February 19, 1942.

Authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it allowed for military personnel to create "exclusion zones," which were used to exclude all Japanese persons from the Pacific Coast.

These areas included California and parts of Oregon, Washington and Arizona.

Despite the questionable actions taken by the United States Government, the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusion orders were indeed constitutional.

To make matters worse, the United States Census Bureau was directly involved in disclosing addresses and personal information of Japanese Americans, leading directly to the interment of many Japanese Americans.

It was not until 2007 that the United States Census Bureau's involvement was proven.

Until that point, it was denied that it had any involvement at all.

To appease tensions and uneasy feelings amongst many Japanese American citizens, Ronald Reagan signed legislation that apologized for the atrocities committed against the Japanese Americans in 1942.

Lack of political leadership, war paranoia and racial prejudice were all included as reasons for the United States actions in the legislation signed by Reagan.

Shortly thereafter, about $1.6 billion in reparations were distributed amongst Japanese American citizens who were directly interned or to the heirs of others who had been interned.

Unfortunately, no amount of money will make up for the choices made by the United States in 1942.

Descriptive Feature: The Statues of Tommie Smith and John Carlos

Word count: 251

Standing at 20 feet tall, the statues of Tommie Smith and John Carlos represent peaceful protest in an age of oppression and violence.

The structure is supported by a cement podium made to resemble the actual podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games in which Smith took first place and Carlos took third.

Both statues were built by a San Francisco artist named Rigo, who used a combination of fiberglass stretched over steel to construct the life-like representations of Smith and Carlos.

Blue hexagon-shaped mosaic tiles cover the surface of the statues to create the track suits worn by both athletes at the time of their protest.

Along the sides of their pants are red and white mosaic tiles that create a white and red stripe.

Green, red and yellow tiles create necklaces around the necks of both men and a white badge with the caption, "Olympic Project for Human Rights" rests on their jackets.

The black gloves worn by both men represent civil rights, which was the sole focus of their protest, not black pride.

By each of their feet lays a black Puma athletic shoe to represent poverty and oppression.

By taking their shoes off they were able to show their black socks, which also represented civil rights at the time.

Both shoes are hollow and are made of steel.

Smith's number, 307, is placed on his back in navy tiles with a white background and Carlos' number, 259, has also been placed on his back.