Don't respect his authority!

In my opinion, if I had to vote just one celebrity off of the island, would pick Eric Cartman from the television series South Park. The main reason I would choose him is because I think he poses ideas, into mainly teenage boys’ minds, as comical but are really just corrupting.

Cartman is foulmouthed and disgusting. He makes jokes about farts and other bodily functions. Young boys, and some girls, do naturally find these subjects humorous, but Cartman is relentless and no child in real life should base 100% of their humor around such nastiness. He also pretends to be people’s friends sometimes when he needs a favor, and that is something that should most definitely not be taught to anyone. He commands around his mother and when that does not work, he whines until he gets what he wants. It is so disrespectful to treat a parent like that, and should not be demonstrated for children and teenagers. Cartman is also a complete bigot. He pokes fun at his friend Kyle, who is Jewish. Cartman’s anti-Semitism has influenced people I personally know, calling everyone “stupid Jews.” I think that is the most demeaning thing, and totally inappropriate to exercise in reality.

I believe that if anyone, of any age, sees South Park and takes notice of the way Cartman treats his friends, parent, and teachers, that is how they will act in real life. I have see it with my own eyes, and I know that they got the joke, line, or demand from Cartman specifically, because they say it in “the Cartman voice.” The show would be a bit more decent if Cartman was voted off the island. He has no positive influence on anyone, at all, ever.

Robert Pattinson vs. Daniel Radcliffe (7/16/09)

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apple is to orange as... wizard is to vampire?

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When the first Harry Potter book came out my Mom and I would sit and read it together, and I began loving the book more and more each chapter. When the sequals came out, I admit I was one of the nerdy teens who wore the “Harry glasses” and waited outside of Barnes and Noble at midnight to snatch one of the first copies. Then the movies… oh the movies… I became a Harry Potter addict.
This past year, however, a new series emerged from the brilliant mind of Stephenie Meyer, The Twilight Saga. Now, as a Harry Potter fan, I was a bit skeptical, believing that this Stephenie person was a J. K. Rowling wannabe, and I did not give the vampire books a second glance. When my best friend, Caitlin and my sister, Danielle told me that, "I just had to read them" I hesitantly went to my high school’s library and picked up a copy of the first volume. From then on I was hooked.
I still adore Harry books, and the movies just as much, which I have recently found out is rather uncommon. This summer Caitlin and I bought tickets way way way in advance to go see the special midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. As I sat there, squirming in my seat for it to start, a preview for the second Twilight movie, New Moon, came on. All at once everyone in the theater (which was COMPLETELY filled up) started booing.
I just couldn’t understand… why can’t a Harry fan like both? Caitlin and I were puzzled. Both stories are completely different. One is about wizards and the other is about vampires. They are both so different that the only thing I could think that made them similar was the target audience: female teenagers. It makes me really mad seeing those shirts that say “team Edward,” or “team Harry.” Why can’t someone like both? People actually argue over which is better and it is such a waste of time. I think all these girls and gay guys have to just let it go and accept both books/movies. You should not compare two things that are so different.

Blog 5- Penitentiary or Resort?

How would you like to get free food, television, and exercise equipment every day? You would not have to pay for any bills, transportation, taxes, or clothes. Sounds pretty good, I know. Well believe it or not there are over two million people in the U.S. alone living this way, and every last one happens to be a criminal. The amount of people in jail has escalated to one in every 142 American residents by mid-year, 2002. The taxes that are taken from the paychecks of innocent members of the work force are what the government uses to pay for the shelter and care of these convicted felons. This confuses me, especially since some of these people are actually killers. Why do law obeying citizens have to pay, literally, for the lives of those imprisoned?

There is always such controversy over what punishment should be put into effect for criminals, especially murderers, usually between life in jail, or death penalty. I am not one to encourage “playing God,” but why should money be taken from people who work hard for it just to support prisoners? I vote death penalty because in all honesty there is no reason to keep them around. Some may argue that living in jail forces them to live with the guilt and without freedoms and their loved ones. However, what about the criminals who do not have a family and are glad they killed whoever they did? Sentencing the death penalty takes them off the hands of the U.S. government and frees up prisons for the next inevitable felon.

Question: Should convicts be given less privileges and/or considered more for the death penalty?

Blog 4- Forced to Fight

This image probably triggers one of the most disturbing issues in my mind. Babies are born pure and completely innocent. In certain countries, however, children as young as four years old are forced and trained to fight in combat. Not only is this immorally controversial, but it can also be argued with human rights. Common sense will tell you that it is not natural for children to participate in war.
Parents who try to explain to children that violence is not the answer are right to some extent. It is true that a simple disagreement over who should play with which toy should not be settled by a fist fight. Nevertheless, if a child is being abducted, they should know that it is okay to kick and scream and bite and punch. Drawing the line for when and when not to use violence can be confusing to a child, but it is vital to teach them that line in order to produce a child with a healthy mindset. Enrolling a child in an organized army will only create a killing machine, capable and willing to cause more damage than aid.
According to the website of the Human Rights Watch, child soldiers participate in about three quarters of all the ongoing conflicts in the world. Of these world’s armies, the opinion of whether or not children should be prosecuted for committing war crimes is divided. This means that children are usually forced to be used in the military and then if accused to a war crime, can be thrown into jail. Children should not even be aware that a war is taking place in their country.
Some may say that this is a controversial image in protest that it is not fetuses who are being put into war, and it pulls on people’s heart strings more because it is not even a fully developed human being. I think the reason for the baby still being in the womb is to show the innocence of a child being stripped of them. Whether a baby is unborn or four years old, it still has the same amount of innocence when it comes to war. I believe that the image is extremely effective for this reason.
Child armies, which have terrorized the countries they invade, have grown up and thrived as cruel members of societies, according to BBC News. Drug abuse has been a main factor in Mr. Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel leader in Africa. Former child soldiers say they were forced to be injected with cocaine before being sent into battle. They have gone on to kill, abduct, rape, and maim thousands of citizens from other countries as well as their own, imposing their reign of terror by hacking off the limbs of victims, including children and infants, with machetes.
This is not the way that people should act towards one another ever, let alone how children should behave. It is an abomination that anybody should be forced to commit such heinous crimes. Children being taught to are just even more disgusting. If enough people would take action to stop military use of children, it would just be one step in the right direction to end many wars around the globe.