Regardless whether you are a soccer fan or not, you would definitely know what is going on in South Africa this summer. Precisely. South Africa, as the first host country in Africa, will hold the World Cup, a pivotal feast that happens every four years, entertaining passionate soccer fans  all around the world. However, the success of the World Cup is put into the question. Unlike other World Cup events, the FIFA could not sell half of the World Cup tickets. The FIFA was so desperate that it had to make the decision to sell the tickets in local supermarkets. However, there’s still a question about whether this remedy can attract foreign soccer fans. Why is this peculiar World Cup that is to be held in the African continent for the first time ever, facing such difficulties?

South Africa 2010 Logo

One evident concern is over South Africa’s rather unstable security situations. As in the diagrams shown below, murder, sexual assault and robery are frequent cases that happen currently in South Africa. Especially, sexual assualt appears to be a big problem – one of the diagrams clearly indicate that it happen in almost half of the regions that the nation governs. In Korea, there is even a rumor between netizens that even male tourists have the danger to be sexually abused in South Africa. In addition, recent cases of recent racial conflict and threatenings issued by Al Qaeda adds to the reason that foreign soccer fans would not visit South Africa.

However, it is not righteous to judge that a soccer trip in South Africa would be dangerous merely because of these reasons. South African government has put in many efforts in order to stabilize the security situation that appears to be the concern for the soccer fans. The South African government promises to cooperate with private guard companies, in addition to arranging 700 guards for each stadium. A strict process of body searching will be implemented so that terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda would not be able to hide any explosive materials in any sites near the stadium. All in all, South Africa is doing all it can in order to prevent slightest possibilities that accidents pertaining to security would happen during the World Cup.

Another reason that prevents foreigners to be in South Africa is the stereotype against the African continent. Many people judge that Africa is less economically developed, and therefore socially unstable. To some extent, this could be true, but it is irrational to judge whether South Africa has any problems with security based on rumors such as the one between the Korean netizens. As a matter of fact, the South Africa has already organized a similar competition successfully in Confederations Cup in 2009, without any major security issues. When South Korean national team visited South Africa for friendly matches, all the accident it experienced was the monkeys stealing the head coach’s orange juice.

To some extent, it is true that the safety in South Africa can sound a little bit unstable compared to other countries that have held the World Cup before. However, it is also possible that the so-called danger in South Africa could have been exaggerated due to people’s stereotype to the African continent. As TOK students, it is important for us to scrutinize it closely, to determine to what extent South Africa is dangerous and whether the fact can be a negative factor that can destroy one of the mankinds’ biggest feast in four years.

Works Cited

http://www.mediaus.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=10912

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=107&oid=018&aid=0002241773

http://www.southafrica.to/Tourists/Tourists-safety.php5

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2926941/Al-Qaeda-threaten-to-bomb-the-World-Cup.html

http://blogs.smh.com.au/sport/archives/flog/

http://www.sportsseoul.com/news2/soccer/wcup2010/others/2010/0511/20100511101020602000000_8300482980.html

On Friday large amounts of volcanic ash covered parts of rural Iceland and drifted over Europe causing airports all over Europe to close, emptying the skies of planes and forcing more people to search for hotel rooms, train tickets and rental cars. According to the Guardian the ash from the volcanic eruption is causing major problems for airports everywhere in Europe. This problem has caused Europe to go into its own bubble, preventing anyone from traveling to anywhere because according to air safety officials the after-effects of the eruption have made it too hazardous to fly. The air traffic agency Eurocontrol said almost two-thirds of Europe’s flights were canceled on Friday, as the air ways remained largely closed in Britain and across large parts of north and central Europe. Also according to the air traffic agency, on Friday at least 17,000 of Europe’s usual 28,000 daily flights were canceled. Also, on Friday 280 flights between Europe and the United States were canceled as well as 60 flights between Europe and Asia. The ash cloud did not only effect flights but of course, people as well. On Saturday more than 6 million people were effected by the disruption of travel. Its weird to think but airplane crews were not in the places they were supposed to be causing inconvenience and a 36-48 hour turnaround time to get the crews to where they were supposed to be, and of course the obvious millions of travelers that were affected by the closing of the airports.
I believe that this incident raises an important issue as to how much we rely on nature to act conveniently in accordance with the human race. Because of this volcano, recent articles have said that, Europe has been “volcanoed” in for one week and it has begun to affect the economy of all airports in Europe! Finding this out really shocked me because it shows how largely the environment can have have an effect on human lives. According to CBS news it is costing the industry around 200 million dollars a day to have flights canceled. This level of money that the industry is losing is affecting its economy much more than was expected and shows that we, as the human race, should never depend on the environment to not cause us problems because it is highly un predictable.
It really is quite amazing how many other outside problems this eruption caused. Within Europe many people began to take the train to travel, causing extra trains to be put on in Amsterdam according to CBS. Not only were extra trains put on the tracks but the number of ferries and calls to the London Taxi Company were increased as well, CBS says. Now this is surprising, the military needed to adjust! As i read this article on CBS news and got to the part about how the military was effected i had a moment of realization. It is so surprising to me that a volcanic eruption, that did not even kill anyone, has the power to change the place that soldiers in need of medical attention were being sent to. Instead of being sent to a care facility in Europe, soldiers were sent all the way back to Washington.This really shows that dear Mother Nature has full power over the entire human race. Although we can create new technology, transportation systems, and electricity the human race can not even come close to being able to control Mother Nature!

Works Cited:

I, among many others can say being a teenager isn’t easy. As I reflect on my past experiences I’ve come to realize that the music I listened to seemed to reveal how I saw myself as a person during that specific time.  Especially in this day and age, it is rare that we don’t come across young adults with their earphones in their ear. Thus, it came no surprise to me when I discovered that an entire branch in psychology was geared toward music. It seemed logical to me that music impacts people. Since, music consists of sounds and many times language which are two factors alone that heavily influence people. Me, being a person heavily reliant on my ipod, researched this branch of psychology and in turn it caused me to question whether music affects our personality.  In order to answer this question, I found key ingredients that tend to influence people’s perspectives. This includes music’s effect on behavior, emotion, intelligence, and pain reduction.

Constant music listeners like myself might be surprised to discover that research suggests that our music taste comes from our genes. According to researchers at the Harvard Medical School a baby’s brain is wired for music while still in the womb.  At the age of 4 months, discordant notes at the end of a melody can make them squirm and turn away. If they like a lullaby, well, who can’t fail to appreciate a baby’s coo.

However, this research is not concrete evidence that our genes shape our music taste.  Other theories focus on music’s long term effect on the brain. In short, evidence suggests that long-term musical involvement causes cognitive rewards and boosts social adjustment. Music exercises the brain. ( Norman Weinberger, University of California)

Why does music provoke such strong emotional responses?

“There is something about music that evolves over time, as do emotions. When we hear the song we re-live the emotional sequence that happened when we first heard it,” says Professor John Sloboda of  Keele University and author of Music and Emotion. According to the Psychology Press , Music is a complex acoustic and temporal structure that induces a large variety of emotional responses in listeners.The nature of emotions created by music has been a matter of much debate. Preliminary practical investigations have demonstrated that basic emotions can be recognized in and created by musical stimuli in humans.

Ongoing research has been conducted concerning music’s correlation to human intelligence. A very popular study dealt with the Mozart Effect.  The Mozart Effect is a set of research results that indicate that listening to Mozart’s music may induce a short-term improvement on the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks known as spatial temporal reasoning. Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993) investigated the effect of listening to music by Mozart on spatial reasoning . They gave research participants one of three standard tests of abstract spatial reasoning after they had experienced each of three listening conditions: a sonata by Mozart, repetitive relaxation music, and silence. The authors found that the mean standard age scores converted into IQ scores were 8 to 9 points higher after the participants had listened to the music. Rauscher et al. show that the enhancing effect of the music condition is only temporary. This concludes that music doesn’t directly affect a person’s intelligence.

It is not uncommon to hear the  term, “Music Therapy.” However, not many people have given much thought as to how music can be therapeutic. According to a paper in the latest UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing, listening to music can reduce chronic pain by up to 21 per cent and depression by up to 25 per cent. Sandra L Siedlecki from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation conducted a study depicting the effect of music on power, pain, depression and disability.  The conclusion of this particular study noted that the patients that were exposed to music reported that their pain had fallen by between 12 and 21 per cent, when measured by two different pain measurement scales. The control group reported that pain increased between one and two per cent.

I’m aware that not everyone listens to as much music as I do and thus it may be too hasty to conclude that music molds everyone’s personality.  Time must be taken out to consider the other perspective. That is, that our personality and the culture that we are brought up in influences our individual music taste. Whether culture or personality, one thing is clear, and that is that music is universal amongst humans; it may be used to express one’s mood, it may influence one’s mood, but most of all it is enjoyed by all.

- Aileen Carpenter

Word Count: 568

Bibliography:

Keshen, Alex. ” Does Music Affect Teens?.” (2009): n. pag. Web. 4 Apr 2010. <http://behavioural-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/is_music_for_more_than_your_ears>.

Cromie, William. “Music on the brain.” (2009): n. pag. Web. 4 Apr 2010. <Music on the brain>.

“How Does Music Impact Our Emotions?.” (1999): n. pag. Web. 4 Apr 2010. <http://www.chordpiano.com/articles-chord-piano/music-emotions-4.htm>.

“Human Intelligence:Mozart Effect.”(2008)n.pag.Web.4Apr2010 http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/mozarteffect2.shtml

Why did the girl throw her Clock out the window? Because she wanted to see time fly! You have probably heard a lot of jokes and sayings about time, but how deeply have you thought about them? There are many different categories of time we use to organize the moments of our life. There is clock time, calendar time, solar time, etc. When we think of time we think about years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, etc. Now are these things really considered “time”, or are they just our way of organizing it? What is time? According to dictionary.com, time is “a limited period or interval, as between two successive events.” (Time) However, time is a concept with many meanings. We can understand some of these meanings through the traditional sayings about time.

One example of a saying that involves the concept of time is: “Time waits for no man” (Proverb Quotes). Time is constantly moving. It never goes backwards and never stops. Even if you were the President of the United States you still only have 24 hours in a day. You might think that this means that time is always the same for everyone, but that is not always right.

Another saying about time is: “Time is Relative.” (Time is Relative) In Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity he said that, “Moving clocks run slow.” (Einstein – Time) This actually means that time is different, depending on who is watching it. The faster someone goes, the slower time goes for that person. Even though it is not quite the same as Einstein’s theory, I have noticed that as I grow older time seems to move faster for me. When I was younger, time dragged itself along more often. However, as I got older and began to have more due dates I noticed that time passed by more quickly for me.

“Time Heals All Wounds.” (Proverb Quotes) This saying helps us think of the concept of time as something that gives us the chance to learn and grow. It helps us heal when we get hurt. It allows us to learn from our mistakes and grow stronger. This is not to say that time alone can heal all wounds. We have to put an effort into changing. However, if we do, over a certain period, our wounds will mend.

Time affects us in many ways. It makes us equal in some ways but also can mean different things to different people. One thing for sure is that time is precious and should not be wasted. “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” (Harvey Mackay Quotes)

Works Cited
“Einstein – Time.” American Museum of Natural History. Web. 19 Mar. 2010. .
“Harvey MacKay Quotes.” ThinkExist.com Quotations. Web. 19 Mar. 2010. .
“Proverb Quotes.” WorldOfQuotes.com – Quotes and Proverb Archive. Web. 19 Mar. 2010. .
“Time.” Dictionary.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2010. .
“Time Is Relative.” Ramblings. Web. 19 Mar. 2010. .

I’m sure all of you are familiar with the infamous “NO! I want the drumstick!” “Why?” “Because it’s the BEST part!” argument, correct? Well, I am. Trust me.

I’m in a family of five, meaning three kids, and an odd number. Which means two chicken legs for three kids—do the math.

For years of our childhood my brothers and I would fight over who got the drumstick, and which one of us would have to eat the chicken breast. Usually ending with tears and a tantrum, my younger brother got the best of us, and ended up with the drumstick-but that’s beside the point.

Now, as a T.O.K student, I look back on our (ridiculous) arguments, and I think to myself, “Hey…that’s an invalid claim!” Who says that one part of the chicken is any better than the part right next to it? Chicken is chicken.

After doing some research I’ve come across certain theories which helped support my thoughts. Researchers from “BBC Food” claim that we have certain sense preceptors in our brain that trigger something called “sensory dominance”. BBC Food suggest that “Our brains use the most accurate of our senses when trying to figure out what is out there in the world around us, and this ‘cognitive-shortcut’ even applies when we are trying to decide what exactly is that we are eating/drinking” thus, suggesting that we subconsciously prefer parts of food-in this case-chicken, by our dominant senses and preconceived judgments.

Professor Francis Aylward explains that preferred foods may correlate with where we are from. Organolepsis and Nutrition “The Sensory Perception of Food” found evidence in the 1970’s about certain areas of the world preferring certain foods, like most Asian Cultures prefer vegetables over meat, and in European cultures they prefer margarine over butter.

But not all studies support this, one cannot claim that we simply prefer food depending on where we are from; this is simply one explanation of why certain cultures prefer certain foods, because they were more exposed to it as children.

These claims also help support the “invalid claim” that vegetables are “bad”, what is it that makes children hate vegetables, is it because they taste bad or simply because all their friends don’t eat them? Children have always much rather eaten the newest brand of Cheetos than broccoli.  Certain dominating triggers within children’s heads clearly must go off when being offered vegetables, or else, we’d never have unhealthy children, right?

Now, back to the chicken. I still question today why is it that we like the chicken leg? A perfect example actually happened recently. I was in psychology class, discussing with Charlotte Moeyens about this blog post, I went on about how people always assume the chicken leg tastes better than the breast- when essentially it’s the same exact thing. When Max Wang overheard and said “No, but it IS better!” I smiled, and asked him why he thought so, to which he simply replied “I don’t know, it just IS, everyone knows it”.

On a T.O.K level, this topic can get very complex, and I’m sure that everyone will have different reasoning and opinions; personally, I also prefer the drumstick. Why? I can’t really answer that, possibly the easy way of holding it, or just because everyone claims that it’s the best part? There is no thorough answer on why children like it, or why, even still as teens, enjoy it the most. But I do think that the way that we preconceive food and preconceive ANYTHING for that matter truly does alter your mindset, whether it being food, or anything else.

But at the end of the day, chicken will always be chicken. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry!

Works Cited

1. Alyward, Francis, and J. TREMOLIRES. ORGANOLEPSIS AND NUTRITION: THE SENSORY PERCEPTION OF FOOD. Vol. 1. Paris: ES, Laboratoire de Nutrition Humaine, 1970. Print.

2. “BBC – Food – TV and radio – Perfection – Experimental Kitchen – Sensory             perception.” BBC – Homepage. Sept. 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.             <http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/experimental_kitchen_sensory.shtml>.

3. Sokab. Grumpy Kid. 2007. Photograph. “Intro to Photography Class”

4. The Five Senses. 2003. Photograph. Education World, America.

5. Boy Eating Fried Chicken. 2006. Photograph. Stock Photo Collection, America

Yes, I am here to give you advice on how keeping your refrigerator full with a variety of drinks will help you get girls.

Refrigerator stocked

No, of course not. (If you really want to watch the video, it’s on Youtube. Just type in the same title as I have for my blog post. WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT)

However, the title has a direct relationship with what I am about to write about.

We hear about acts of racism all over the world; maybe not as frequently as before, but unfortunately racism has been a problem ever since Africans were shipped off to North America and Europe as slaves. Great men like Martin Luther King Jr., whose “I Have a Dream” speech is still studied today, and Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, devoted their lives to abolishing slavery and outlawing racism. And although lynching cases have pretty much disappeared, racism exists in other forms not so extreme, such as stereotyping.

Martin Luther King Jr.

But I’m not here to write about racism actually. Nor stereotyping. I’m here to write about the boundaries of stereotyping and what is considered to be stereotyping. That’s why I am referring to the Youtube video that Mr. Chi-city3 kindly made for us. If you watched then video then you should know what the content is like. For those who did not, well, to sum it up, in each sentence he at least says “nigga” one time. For example, for no reason he pops out and says “Oh yeah, nigga made a pizza.” And he laughs about it. Now, Mr. Chi-City3 is an African-American. But does that mean he’s allowed to call other black people “nigger”?

Through my experience with African-Americans, I found that “nigger” seems to be a common term among them. They say it to each other very frequently. Does that mean they hate each other so much they always use derogatory language to address one another? Nope, because “nigger/nigga” is just another term for “bro/friend/buddy” among themselves. I have always believed that this is how black people acted, however through some further investigation, I find that “nigger” has many meanings in the African-American community. In Gloria Naylor’s “A Word’s Meaning Can Often Depend on Who says It,” she explains that there are five main definitions of the word “nigger”: “a man who had distinguished himself in some situation that brought their approval for his strength, intelligence or drive,” “a term of endearment for her husband or boyfriend,”"the pure essence of manhood,” and “in the plural, it became a description of some group within the community that had overstepped the bounds of decency,” and a word that “always involved some element of communal disapproval.”

Even celebrities such as Nas use the word "Nigger" to describe themselves

Interestingly enough, four out of the five meanings mentioned are positive. The fifth not being negative, but used in a way to build each other up. The community mentioned in this piece of work seems to have altered the meaning of “nigger” and transformed it into a term that is a compliment to most. For Naylor, she didn’t “agree with the argument that use of the word nigger at this social stratum of the black community was an internalization of racism. The dynamics were the exact opposite.” Her opinion on the use of the word directly correlates to my understanding of the word’s usage among my black friends.

I realized that black peoples’ connotation of “nigger” is different when they say it to each other. Instead of the negative connotation the word “nigger” has when spoken by somebody not black, the word “nigger” among the black community is more of a compliment. The usage of the word is a rebellion to the old meaning of the word, the slavery background that “nigger” used to have. Using the word “nigger” to address each other is a direct opposition to the racial prejudice that their ancestors suffered, and to celebrate that suffering because only through suffering did the African-Americans gain their freedom. However, there is an opposite view on the word within the greater African-American community.

One of our TOK teachers, Mrs. Rosen, mentioned that she had an African-American student whose father disliked the word “nigger.” If the student was ever caught using the word “nigger” by his/her father, it would’ve meant trouble for the student, Mrs. Rosen had said. So this student was brought up taught never to use the word “nigger.” And although I do not know this family, I assume that they believe using this word “nigger” is exactly the opposite view Naylor talks about. That the use of the word is “an internalization of racism.” So I was wrong in assuming that all black people see the word “nigger” as a positive connotation, because there are some well-respected families that view the word as derogatory even when coming out of the mouth of a black man.

Internalization of racism?

Although some might think using the word “nigger” as hypocritical, I realized that in reality African-Americans are transforming the word and developing the word to mean something new, something positive. Just as Gloria Naylor said in her writing, “the people…took a word that whites used to signify worthlessness or degradation and rendered it impotent…They transformed nigger to signify the varied and complex human beings they knew themselves to be.”

Works Cited:

African American Registry–Your Source for African American History. African American Registry, Web. 28 Feb 2010. <http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/2420/Nigger_the_word_a_brief_history>.

King Jr., Martin Luther. “Martin Luther King Jr..” American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr.- I have a dream. American Rhetoric, Web. 28 Feb 2010. <http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm>.

Naylor, Gloria. “A Word’s Meaning Can Often Depend on Who Says It.” The New York Times, “Hers” Column sec. Print.

“Negro.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org, Web. 28 Feb 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro>.

Yes of course Chinese New Year is a great time to celebrate and every reason to make a lot of noise, because according to the Chinese New Year Legend of Nian, the colour red and the loud noise wards of the evil spirits, in order to start off with a positive new year. And I completely respect that because I am imagining that these 15 days to the people celebrating it in China, is like what New Years eve and New Years day (31st of December, and 1st of January) is like for my family, me, and all those who celebrate it on those days.

Fire Crackers in China

However, having stayed here during Chinese New Year last year, I thought that this year I wouldn’t be as shocked or irritated by the fireworks and firecrackers at 3 in the morning on some nights. But I was wrong, and found out by not being able to sleep. So I thought that this would go well into TOK because of how it has, i think, now become a Chinese cultural paradigm, as it has been practiced since ancient times. During this time was when I felt most alienated from China and its people, and I guess this was why i found it very irritating, because I wasn’t able to join in the celebration, seeing as I am not really part of, or know much on, the Chinese Culture. But I also know that it is not only in China, where fireworks are used in time of Celebration. However, does it balance out, the positive aspects of fireworks versus the negative aspects? When I am not part of the celebration, I feel that my perception on fireworks changes from when I am part of the celebration, for example, I am able to enjoy them when I am with my whole family in Argentina, on our great grandmothers balcony and looking at the fireworks at a 360 degree angle, all around us, but i get irritated when I am in a foreign environment, and when it isn’t part of my culture or religion, and therefore is not a tradition within my family. The fireworks and firecrackers are also a combination between art and chemistry, however the issue with these scientific works of art is wether or not they are too dangerous, and therefore unethical. They could either be misused, if people don’t know how to handle them or are just ‘jokingly throwing them around’, or there could be an accident. For example, there have been many accidents where people have been injured or killed because of an explosion with fireworks. One specific story is told here in China Daily.

Red Fireworks

People’s emotion, the admiration and awe of the fireworks, gets in the way of the logic, of which it is proven that they contribute to having toxins in the air, and therefore contributing to environmental pollution. Most of people’s perception is that they are beautiful, so is it right to take away this universal way of expressing joy? I think that because it is in the sky, something that is shared, it seems like we are communicating even though we do not speak the same language, we can interpret it as happiness or joy. According to an article called, “Eco-Friendly Pyrotechnics” from TerraDaily, “When a firework or other pyrotechnic is set off, it releases a whole cocktail of poisons damaging to humans and the environment: heavy metals like lead, barium and chromium, chlorates, dioxins, smoke and particulates, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen and sulfur oxides.”

Fireworks Pollution in Beijing

So maybe the reason that people set off a mass amount of fireworks could be because of the ignorance, they just are not aware of the dangers to humans, including themselves? Or I believe that maybe because it has become a sort of tradition in light of celebrating, it would be too difficult to ban and be made illegal. There is also the issue about people’s jobs, it seems like it would be unethical to ban this, since there are so many local people and companies that are benefiting, earning money helping them live. When I search on a Chinese Manufacturing Website, about 246 results came up with companies that make and sell fireworks in China, that is a lot of employees and a lot of families who would loose jobs, if it were to be made illegal. I can see, after quite some research, how this would be a hard decision to make. Wether to ban or not to ban, I get the feeling that it would still be around, and be sold illegally. But since the Expo is coming up, I do not think that they would ban it just yet. After seeing the impressive fireworks display during the Beijing Olympics, maybe they will try to go above and beyond with the 2010 Expo?

Works Cited
“Legend of Nian.” Thats Qingdao. QingDao China Travel and Living Guide, 2010.
Web. 28 Feb. 2010. .

“Kaleidoscope Science and Invention: The Pyrotechnics of Liuyang.” China

Culture. Cultural China, 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.
.

Kulkarni, Teresa. “The Main Problems with Fireworks.” The Main Problems with
Fireworks. www.stop-fireworks.org. Stop Fireworks.org, 25 Jan. 2010.
Web. 28 Feb. 2010. .

“Fireworks, Fireworks Directory, China Suppliers.” Made-in-China. Focus
Technology Co, 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2010. .

“Four killed in fireworks factory blast in E. China .” China Daily [Xinhua] 3
Feb. 2010: n. pag. China Daily. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.
.

Halford, Bethany. “Pyrotechnics For The Planet .” Chemical and Engineering News
30 June 2008, Volume 86 Number 26 ed.: pg14-18. American Chemical Society.
Web. 28 Feb. 2010. .

Hill, Graham. “Beijing’s New Year’s Fireworks Tripled Pollution Levels
Overnight: Tree Hugger.” TreeHugger. Discovery Communications, 10 Jan.
2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2010. .

“Eco-Freindly Pyrotechnics.” Terra Daily [Munich] 18 Mar. 2008: n. pag. Terra
Daily. Web. 28 Feb. 2010. .

Digital Rights Management is a type of software usually embedded in music files or was embedded. The software was put in the music files so that the person who purchased the piece of music could only have one copy of that file. Meaning that another person could not have a copy of the same music on their iPod and the computer at the same time unless they purchased another copy of it. However DRM music was banned in several music stores several years ago and now is only used in computer games and videos.

However several ethical/moral problems is- Do we truly own the computer file (such as the piece of music)?

Digital files are quite versatile. We can take one file and make as many exact copies of it as we want- something we can’t in the physical world. We buy a bottle of orange juice, we can’t copy it again. That is the argument to many cooperate executives who promote the use of DRM. To them music files are orange juice. For every copy they need to buy another one.

Hilariously the same argument can be used against them. The cost of a consumer downloading their song is almost nil for them- while to produce another orange juice still costs for its producer.

The unique nature of the digital world is this: it exists on a different plane. You can copy digital files almost exactly from one another. Although in sci-fi several examples of transferring real world objects to a digital world and vice versa most prominently in Star Trek where replicators can create objects like water by using data on its mainframe and where holograms are so real that they can actually kill (As seen on Star Trek First Contact).  Perhaps one day through advance cloning methods and Brain-Flash tech we could make exact copies of ourselves.  To some the digital world may be detrimental to their profits while to others it is seen as a boon where they can’t loose anything. The dog eats the homework- doesn’t matter its backed up. However it does raise a issue in Information Technology in the Global society- should the digital world be treated today the same as the physical world where once you use it, its gone, or make as many copies as you want. My opinion- welcome to the digital world.  Why do I care? Because I’m part of the Digital World- the next generation.  I honestly don’t want my freedoms to be stomped upon in this world because some Corporate Executive feels like he’s gonna lose money if we have this freedom.

Sources

DefectiveByDesign.org | The Campaign to Eliminate DRM. Web. 28 Feb. 2010. <http://www.defectivebydesign.org/>.

Menta, Richard. “DRM is Like Paying for Ice.” Web log post. MP3newswire.net. Web. <http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/6002/drm.html>.

Being half French from my father’s side and half Malaysian from my mother’s side, I have grown up in a bilingual lifestyle, learning and speaking French and English from birth. I am often asked which language I consider my “mother tongue” but never know how to answer because I consider myself fluent in both English and French. Growing up I have spoken and listened in both languages, read books and watched movies in both languages, as well as written in both languages. But am I considered fluent in both languages? Although I have never had major difficulties with either language, I have definitely stumbled upon situations where I would know how to say something in French but not in English and vice-versa. As well as sometimes not knowing what certain words mean in each language. So am I fluent? Even with having trouble understanding both languages at times?

I know I am not the only bilingual person out there who asks themselves the same question. How de we know we are fluent in a language?  You see according to the definition of “fluent,” someone who is fluent is able to speak or write ease in the particular language (Collins 324). Personally I can hold conversation and write in both languages with great ease, so am I considered fluent? Yes according to the dictionary. However, having spoken French and English my whole life, I still cannot say I have never had difficulties understanding certain words, in fact there have been numerous times throughout my life where I have had trouble either with grammar or with vocabulary in both languages.

In everyday conversation, when someone states there are fluent in a language we assume they know every word and phrase of that language. Whenever people ask about my fluency in French I always reply saying that I am 100% fluent because I easily communicate, write and understand French. However, after studying TOK my perception over the word ‘fluent’ has changed a lot. I find it difficult to use the word “fluent.” How is it that I am fluent if I am still learning new words all the time?

In TOK language is a way of knowing that allows us to communicate and understand one another.  So in conclusion, one can be fluent in a language by dictionary definition however that does not mean they can completely communicate fully with someone else in that language. This is because communication annotates understanding and comprehension but understanding each other is very different from speaking the same language.

Works cited:

< Lawless, Laura K. “Am I Fluent?” About.com. The New York Times Company. Web. 7 Feb. 2010. >

< Alexander, Sam. “What is Fluency?” Xamuel.com. 18 Sept. 2009. Web. 5 Feb. 2010. >

< “Fluent.” Colins Dictiionary and Thesaurus. BishopBriggs, Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers, 2005 >

Pretty much.

One official definition of the word ‘guilt’ is, according to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary:

a. the feeling of culpability for offenses.

If you’re like me, and I know I am, you probably feel guilt all the time. It’s dramatic and constant, the offense here being simply existing the way we do. I guess it’s a sort of survivor guilt that applies to all of humanity. We always feel obligated to compare ourselves to that other half of the world. The suffering one. Seemingly distant countries in Africa and Asia, concurrently right next door to us and infinitely far away. We feel and somehow are immediately culpable for world hunger. Our lifestyles are based on principles of wastefulness, consumerism, and instant gratification, but this is okay so long as we acknowledge it. To some extent that fact is true, if only because there really is nothing we can do to make even the slightest dent in prominent problems facing humanity on our own considering how truly immaterial our brief spans of existence on this planet are. Even so, considering the resources we have at our disposal, there must be something small we can do.

Instantly, donating comes to mind: charities and organizations and initiatives like the 30 hour famine collect money from people like us and send it somewhere it might be useful. This is the basic idea. Prior to researching for the 30 hour famine video, I had never really given much thought to the whole process. I had never considered what it might do to breed dependencies between governments and these organizations, or to promote widespread and venal corruption within administrations, or to contribute to the endless cycle of donating and receiving. There are small grassroots movements who harbor the intention of building functioning and self-sufficient economies within nations facing poverty. Most organizations, however, are acting upon the requests of governments. They portray these areas in a heartbreaking light, appealing predominantly to the emotional aspect of the issue. We feel a blindly selfish need to rid ourselves of this unutterable feeling of culpability by giving away some small piece of what sets us apart to a cause. 

The cause, however, has severe implications on the regions it provides for. Termed “dead aid” by economist and author Dambisa Moyo, this constant supply of insufficient monetary relief is creating what is called an “aid culture”. Its most lasting effects include minimum debt repayments of $20 billion per annum for most African nations, billions of dollars worth of embezzled money, cases like Ethiopia wherein aid eventually constitutes for over 90% of the country’s GDP. Nations so severely incapable of providing for their people need a foundation for growth and empowerment, not a basis from which an addiction to “free money” has stemmed. 

According to economist George Ayittey, who has significant insight into this situation due to the experience of having lived and worked in Uganda for most of his life, believes that this aid is not without a moral imperative. He agrees that aid is failing, but differs from Moyo in his conviction that completely cutting off aid to poor areas in five years is too extreme a solution. He states that many opportunities have arisen in the past few decades to develop stable economies in these regions, but surprisingly little has been done to alleviate poverty in the long-term. Basic institutions like a neutral and independent media, civil service, central bank, and army are necessary to begin development. These critical organizations have yet to be established as independent and functioning in most poverty-stricken nations. 

An opposing view may be that charity organizations do jump in when they are needed, and have arguably alleviated suffering greatly in their collective reduction of the death count of hunger victims under 5 by nearly half, but that improvement is barely adequate considering the number still stands at 26,000 children per day according to UNICEF. It should also be accounted for that while the rate of survival has risen, the per-capita income is on average much lower. The number of people starving, sick, and completely helpless to act on their basic instincts of self-preservation has doubled over the past twenty years, arriving at a figure of over 350 million people who are surviving on less than a dollar a day, based on Moyo’s article published in 2009.

A ridiculous amount of people have said this exact same thing before me, read the same books I’ve read, and probably preached it in a more people-friendly fashion. I just wanted to say it again, though, because so little has been done about it that it feels new. We’re not giving money to feed these people. We’re giving money to feed a cyclical process of guilt and relief so that we might live with the reality that we’re not really helping anyone.

I guess that for now, though, all we can really do is grow out of this mentality of selfish altruism and keep giving for the simple sake of helping out another human being, despite the full knowledge that it’s not going to be enough. 

Works Cited

“George Ayittey on “Dead Aid“” TED Blog. Web. 07 Feb. 2010. <http://blog.ted.com/2009/04/ayittey_on_dead_aid.php>.

“Guilt – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary.” Dictionary and Thesaurus – Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 07 Feb. 2010. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guilt>.

“Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa – WSJ.com.” Business News & Financial News – The Wall Street Journal – WSJ.com. Web. 07 Feb. 2010. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123758895999200083.html>.

Tags: economics, Emotions, personal perspectives