Proposition 8

As we all know as Californians there was a proposition made to try and ban gay marriage in 2008. Proposition 8 also known as the “California Marriage Protection Act”, was a good indication of the beliefs of Californians, because we voted for it. Californians vote that marriage should be between a Man and a Woman, no same sex marriages allowed. The fact that such a radical proposition was supported by Californians was quite a shock to say the least. California is known to be very accepting of other cultures, and other states view us liberal left wing democrats, which is usually the case, or it has been in the past couple of elections. That’s why this proposition was such a shock, because it showed our true colors. I’m not trying to criticize our state, and that that our majority is wrong, but I am baffled as to why we care so much about this particular subject.

            This seems to be a very sensitive issue, and no matter who you talk to they have an opinion about this. I love that people get fired up and have opinion, it keeps our voters aware and involved, that being said I think there are bigger problems within our country and within California, that we don’t need these laws and propositions to distract us. I think if two people love each other then it should be their right as human beings and especially as Americans to get married. It says in our constitution that we as Americans have the right the “Pursuit of Happiness”, and marriage in my eyes is part of that pursuit. Who are we to take that away from people? How in any way would it affect me if two Women or two Men decided to marry each other? It wouldn’t, plain and simple. That’s why I don’t understand why this is such an issue. Banning Gay Marriage is a form of institutional racism; the government is discriminating against a minority group and throughout history when this kind of thing took place it never turned out good. If the government can tell us who we can and can’t marry, what’s next, what other freedoms are they going to control or take away?

            I remember seeing commercials on this very issue trying to sway people one way or another. Think about all the money that went into campaigning for this proposition. People for Proposition 8 would say things like “think about the kids”, “family matters” and “family values”, meaning that if you supported gay marriage you didn’t care about kids, you didn’t care about families, and you had no family values. This is pretty harsh and can certainly sway a person into supporting this proposition. On the contrary people against Proposition 8, would say nasty inhumane things about people who were against gay marriage. My point is that this kind of language set us back rather then taking us forward as a state, and as a Nation. I am against laws that infringe on our rights as Americans, and this proposition did exactly that. I think if we viewed it more as something that would take away a right rather than the actually subject of the proposition; we might have had a different outcome.

Sources: Reliable or Unreliable?

            Every generation seems to have that one outstanding event, where each person can relate, and tell you exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing when said event took place. For my Parents generation the assassination of president Kennedy seems to stand out as that unforgettable moment, for my grandparent, the attack on Pearl Harbor seems to stand out. Well for me, and probably for anyone in my generation, the event that we can all relate to and tell you exactly where we were and exactly what we were doing, as well as where or who we heard the news from, is the attack on the World Trade Centers in New York City. I remember I was talking with my friends at school, and they were all talking about the “explosion” and the “plane” and the “attack”, I was very confused, until class was back in session and our principle got on the loud speaker. She explained what happened and we all had a moment of silence. I will never forget that moment as long as I live, or the expression of worry on everybody’s faces when they found out.

            For me I heard this news first from my peers at school, which were all a bunch of elementary school children. As you can imagine the stories were embellished a little, and usually very flawed, but they still knew what had happened, just not all the facts. Being a young child, I didn’t really understand the magnitude of what had just taken place in our country, in fact it wasn’t until many years later when I realized what exactly had happened to our country, physically and psychologically. I was in my own little world in Palmdale, so I didn’t realize the kind of panic that our country was going through.

            Hearing a million different stories from people, I turned to my parents for enlightenment on the situation, which I think is a normal thing for children. They explained to me the actual events and told me about it then they turned on the news. I remember they kept replaying the collision, over and over, as if they didn’t believe it, and then the building collapsed which was even more difficult to comprehend. I didn’t realize it at the time but now thinking back I realize how vulnerable everybody was on that moment, nobody knew how to react, because how can you plan for something of that magnitude to happen.

            The reason that I believed the News, is because it was actually happening, all the events were taking place and they didn’t leave it up to interpret, it just was exactly what it looked like. There was no room for embellishment, because it was happening in real time. I know now that those children at school were not a good way of obtaining information they were in fact not a credible source. When you are young you are very naive and susceptible to lies. I know now not to believe everything I hear, and before reacting I do research of my own. The way you know something is a credible source, is because it is recognized as a credible source. Major news networks and newspapers have to have facts and not opinions (for the most part) because their reputation is at stake.

We Just Don't Get It

I agree for the most part with what Lakoff says about hat speech, and the people who haven’t had to hear it or be subject to it. Lakoff says that people who haven’t had to deal with hate speech “just don’t get it”. In my opinion I think no matter whom you are, no matter your cultural background, your religion, your gender, heritage, or whatever, I still think you experience hate speech. Granted some hate speech is far worse than others, it is still hate speech. I know for a fact that not many white people realize the significance of the n-word; we know it is wrong to say it but we don’t actually know what it feels like to hear it or be called it. The same goes for everyone, any click or group or class you are not in, you don’t know what it feels like to hear or be called the derogatory terms given to those select groups. This is why I think people can rationalize these terms in their minds, and be able to say them, because they don’t realize the significance of the hate speech that they are giving. If people truly knew then they wouldn’t say these derogatory, demeaning terms and hate speech. I just wish we could live one day in someone else’s shoes, someone of a different race, religion, background etc, and see these things from their perspective and vise versa, I think that would change a lot of hate speech and if nothing else it would give some perspective on what we are actually saying. All that aside I think people have an idea of what they are saying and what it means, just because people “just don’t get it” doesn’t rid them of the responsibilities that come with the kind of hate speech they are using. Just because people who haven’t experienced hate speech don’t have perspective on the actually hate speech doesn’t mean that they don’t know it is wrong. Hate speech deals with morals and character and I think everyone is aware of these lines and not to cross them. It is the responsibility of all of us as human being to know what we are saying, know who is around us, and know that what we are saying might offend someone. It’s funny when people say forms of hate speech in a joke, and because they said it and didn’t actually mean it, then it’s ok. That is a common misconception, because again like Lakoff said we “just don’t get it”. This is the whole ideal that I’m not offended so you shouldn’t be. People are all different and just because someone of a certain group isn’t offended by a certain form of hate speech, doesn’t mean that someone else of the same group will have the same opinion. This is why it is best just to avoid racial and ethnic slurs, because even when joking they can still be very damaging.

Self-Respect or Happiness?

Living in America we strive for happiness, it is even written as one of the fundamental ideas in our nation’s constitution. That alone should give us perspective on the importance of happiness in our country. When our forefathers came here, they wanted to be independent from a monarchial system, so they wanted everyone to live for themselves and give each one of us the chance to find our own happiness. This is very different in other countries, especially nondemocratic ones. Some countries (especially in the Middle East) don’t have these kinds of freedoms and privileges, so they strive for reputation, image and self-respect. I personally think self-respect and happiness go hand in hand; it is hard to be truly happy if you have a poor self image. I know when I feel down on myself, I am not particularly happy, in those times. That being said I think happiness is vital and it needs to be the priority of anyone’s life. When you are happy you don’t just coast through the days, you actually live life everyday to its full potential. For example: if I had a job that made me a ton of money, and in that process I was miserable and all I strived for was a “good job” from my boss and recognition from all the upper-management, that job would certainly give me a strong sense of self respect and worth, but I don’t know if I would be truly happy, or if I would necessarily enjoy it. As opposed to if I had a job that I absolutely loved, that paid me a little bit less, but was a lot more fun and enjoyable for me, I think I would take that any day of the week. That’s why I think parents and teachers always push kids to do what they want, and not what pays the most. I think people can get lost in self-image and self respect; it can become more of a task. When you ask a 3^rd grade class what they want to be when they grow up, I doubt any one of them will say: “I want to be an executive who works one hundred hours a week and makes at least six figures”. I remember when I was younger and all I had to worry about was school and sports, It was so carefree, there was no stress involved I just went day to day thinking of what I was going to do that was fun. Now that I work, go to school, play on upper-level sports teams, I have a lot more people that I have to impress, and a lot more things that I must succeed at in order to get respect from others as well as earn self-respect. I like when people like me, it is comforting to know when you make a good impression on someone, it gives us self-respect and self-worth, but it also makes us happy. So I think the ultimate goal is happiness, self-respect is very important and we must strive for it, but it does not stop at self-respect, it stops at happiness.

Language: Men vs. Women

I believe all people have a different way of communicating what they are trying to say, whether it is tone, pitch, volume facial expression, that being said I think there are major differences between men and women. I think women tend to utilize these aspects of communication in a more exaggerated way then men do. Men as a whole tend to be more direct, and usually easier to read. Women are sometimes saying one thing very convincingly, but they mean something completely different (at least in my personal experiences). I remember I was in class in high school and there were these two girls talking very bad about another girl who they weren’t to fond of at all, but when that girl entered the room they put on a smile and welcomed her as if she was their best friend. I found this to be very interesting because usually if I didn’t like someone I stayed away from that person and didn’t talk to them or associate with them at all. But with the instance with these three girls, the one girl who the other two didn’t like had no idea at that moment of how bad those girls were just talking about her, because they talked in a welcoming high pitched tone and made her feel welcome, and in the mean time they were thinking about how much they hated her. I have also noticed that girls like to touch more than guys. I think this is a way of making that person feel comfortable. Girls are better listeners, that is a fact, so when girls nod their head and touch your arm they are communicating that they care and are their for you. Guys don’t touch as much or use these nonverbal cues as much as girls do. Guys seem to make less eye contact, when having a conversation, and don’t really give nonverbal feedback like smiles or nods. Guys usually give a casual “uh-huh” or “yeah” to acknowledge the conversation. These different uses of communication tend to cause some conflict between men and women, it cause  lot of miscommunication and misinterpretation. Men and women in the United States all speak the English language, but I think we all might speak a different language. It depends how you interpret the definition of language, but I think all these different types of communication between both sexes infers that we do in fact speak two different languages. I think if we did speak the same language things would certainly be different, and not in a good way. If we spoke the same language I don’t think we would be able to learn from each other and get different perspectives. I think a lot of the time the perspective from a man and a women help solve a conflict, and prevent a lot of conflicts. What would we gain from one perspective? It would be a very boring world. I think when women started to get a voice in our country and be able to communicate their opinions and thoughts, that when our country took a huge leap forward.

Nonverbal Cues

We all make a first impression on people based on what we see and hear. If you are making a first impression on somebody who you have never met, then you make that impression based off of a visual image, a long with personality traits that you believe might be connected to that visual. You base this off of the way the person walks, the way they dress, the way they engage with others and so on. Sometimes this way of gaining an impression can give you a very false reading. I remember before I personally met my girlfriend Alena, I perceived her to be very stuck up, which was thankfully not the case at all. The reason I made this judgment was because of the nonverbal cues she would give off. She dressed very nice, walked tall with no emotion and didn’t look all that friendly to be honest, so in my mind I connected her style and demeanor to personality traits and put her into a category. She still to this day has people tell her things like “I didn’t know what to think of you at first, you seemed kind of mean”.

I walk kind of fast and observe my surroundings; my eyes are sensitive to the sun so I squint a lot which makes me out to have an attitude, I dress pretty normal I would say but most of the time I have a nice watch on, as well as a cross. This puts me into a category, which I think for the most part is wrong. People know I play sports and am an athlete, which is right but they also assume me to be mean and not very talkative. I am usually a nice guy once you get to know me, and when I warm up to you I can be somewhat talkative as well. I don’t like that people think I’m mean, but I can’t blame them because if I didn’t know me I’d think I was mean too. I know I come off rude a lot of the time as well, but this very unintentional. People who know me know that I say rude things just for the sake of humor, not to be offensive at all. I just have a crude sense of humor, but I am a very caring and moral person. When I was in high school I used to pick on kids who I felt weren’t giving an effort on the field, so all the underclassmen hated me for this, but the underclassmen who cared about our team and gave an effort I treated fairly, these kids got to know me and they didn’t hate me like their friends did.

I think most people make judgments on what they see and hear about people, this might be wrong but it is human nature. What makes it right is if you change your opinion of someone after meeting them and you actually give them a chance to prove you and your assumptions wrong (or right depending on the situation).

English and the Economy

English is the most widely spoken language in the world, and is the primary language of many countries across the world. Because the United States is such a big country and such a huge superpower as well as large influence on the global economy it is vital to speak the language that we speak if you want to be a truly affective international business. When you are starting a business and you want it to involve trade or services with another country, you send people over that country to do recon and make connections, If that person didn’t speak the language of the country they were visiting then it wouldn’t be a very good first impression or reflection of your business. American love to travel and visit “exotic” places, a lot of countries rely on this to keep the businesses in their country afloat. Rarely anybody who travels for pleasure know how to speak the native language, so in order to communicate in banks, grocery stores, outlet stores and restaurants those businesses have to have some kind of accommodations for those tourists. If they want to get their money. When I was a sophomore in high school my Grandmother decided to take me and my family to Europe, to get the whole “European experience” and it was a lot of fun. We visited England and there wasn’t a language barrier other than trying to understand some hard accents, but even that was easy. We visited Germany and there was a big language barrier, but they always had english accommodations. Most of the street signs had english under the german, the menus had english translations on them, and most of the people actually spoke english which I found to be very interesting. I learned that it is a requirement in school for the students to study the English language. The Germans know how important it is for them to understand and speak English. We visited France and it was much like Germany, but not as accommodating as far as menus and street signs, but because we were in Paris which is a huge tourist town, most of the people in hotels and restaurants spoke English. We also visited Rome, Italy which was about the same as Germany and France, most everything was very accommodating and a lot of people spoke our language. These are some personal examples that I have experienced that have made it very clear how important it truly is to be able to speak English. In my opinion I think being able to speak english keeps a lot of the economies of these countries going, especially of the tourists towns. China and America are so intertwined in each others economies that they need to be able to communicate, being able to speak clearly and communicate to each other it really helps things run smooth. We rely on China and China relies on us so in order to keep a somewhat healthy trading relationship English needs to be a priority.