Riots in Moscow

It seems like mostly all the bad things that keep popping up on the news everyday have some relation to ethnicity. I believe these are bogus problems because the simple solution is people just learning to live together. The migrants are the main root of the problem and many Russians are very scared. One woman said,  "They (migrants) are always attacking, stealing from and killing people. They don't even abide by basic rules like stopping at a red light." I think this can be considered an act of terrorism. The migrants are instilling fear into the people of Moscow, and many are scared to even leave there houses because of the fear of being mugged or killed. One resident also said that the migrants do take low paying jobs like construction, which is needed in the the country. Migrant labor has also played a crucial role in Russia's oil fueled economic boom. Both parties are benefiting from each other so in a perfect world there should be no problem. There is a positive and a negative to having these migrant workers in the country. I think the Russian people need to come to peace with the migrants because they have been a huge part of the success of the nation. In the future, we might see Russian government restricting immigration because of the problem. This problem also looks like it relates to the United states problem with immigration. Immigrants are taking the low paying jobs in both countries, and many are also criminals. All in all, there needs to be a resolution so the Russians and migrants come to peace with one another.

3rd Golden Age of Television

 Many shows have circulated through the cycle of television in the 21 century. The most popular shows tended to deal with men and were more action packed. These shows also had a good amount of criticism from feminists. The main roles of the popular television shows were men. I think that if a woman as described in the article would have played the main role in some of these shows they would not have been nearly as popular.  People today want to see something they would not see everyday. A businesswoman would not appeal to many viewers. Phillip Maciak says "Imagine if that show had focused on a powerful woman rather than a powerful man, a businessperson rather than a murderer, a potential hero rather than the anti-hero." I think that if this change would have happened these shows would not have made it this far. People just don't want to see everyday things on TV. The show with the powerful woman might seem like it would help the feminist movement, but all in all it would not be a popular show. A perfect example from the article would be the show The Sopranos. Old time Italian gangsters are not ordinary in today's world, but when you throw one on television everyone loves it. Today's society enjoys action and things that are out of the ordinary to their everyday life that they will probably never experience themselves, so the our age of television also needs to revolve around this.

Government Shutdown

This Shutdown is by no means good for the economy. An expected 800,000 government employees would be sent home and tons of money will be lost. In Washington D.C. it is estimated that everyday the government is shutdown that the local economy will lose 200 million. I think they could have approached this issue differently with another stopgap budget, but congress can't even decide on this. I thought this administration was supposed to boost the economy not make it worse? I don't blame a single party, but more of the legislative and executive government as a whole. Agreements need to be made. Congress is so split that it is impossible for anything to get passed, even if it is something that is funding itself. From my analysis of many articles it seems that most of the problem revolves around Obamacare. The house passed a funding bill that delayed Obamcare and repealed a tax on medical devices. The senate rejected the bill and there is still no agreement, so now a government shutdown. Republicans believe that Obamacare will have bad effects on the economy and on health care.There are two totally opposite views on this situation, so it is very difficult to come to an agreement. Republicans need to find a replacement for Obamacare if they want to get it out of the picture, and democrats need to negotiate a deal that will please conservatives and themselves. A issue in spite of the government shutting down is the debt ceiling. Treasure Secretary Jacob Lew stated that on October 17 the US will run out of borrowed money. There are so many huge issues in our government today, and with congress being so split it will be very hard to solve these problems. The only way I believe these problems will be solved is with negotiation of a new bill.

Kenya Mall Shooting

Kenya has been a victim of many acts of terrorism in the past, but the most devastating one seems to have occurred a couple weeks ago at a mall on September 21. It is almost becoming a normal thing for these acts of terrorism to happen because we see them every day on the news. Our modern society is becoming desensitized to these horrific attacks, and on the other hand people are becoming more and more capable mentally and physically to carry out these attacks. Mostly all the survivors of the shooting have all mentioned something about the attackers not being normal human beings and being insane. These people are trained to kill innocent civilians, and they say they are doing it for their religion. I'm pretty sure no religion justifies the killing of innocent human beings. One witness stated that the attackers " said that they didn’t shoot women and children and told the women and children to stand up. When the women and children stood up, they started shooting again"(Reini). These constant occurrences of terrorism need to be stopped. Terrorism is the act of using violence to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. We can not act in fear and discontinue our normal everyday lives because of these terrorists because that is what they want. The attackers in this act want the people of Kenya to be afraid to go to the mall. We can not give into these terrorists, but rather we need to find ways to prevent these lunatics from attacking again and again and again. 

Reini, James. "Mall Siege Survivors Recount Harrowing Ordeal." ALJAZEERA. N.p., 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 03 Oct. 2013.

Navy Yard Shooting

It is very sad how every couple of months I get on twitter throughout the day and see news of another mass killing in the United States. And the one thing that makes these shootings worse is that most of them could have been prevented. The Navy Yard shooting proves that their are flaws in our nations  security systems, our health care system for the mentally ill, and also poor controls on previous offenders of the law. If you put a gun in the hands of a mentally unstable person, their is a high chance they will use it. Aaron Alexis had a history of infractions as a Navy reservist, mental health problems and a history of gun violence, yet somehow he gained clearance at the security gait at the Navy Yard. Its kind of crazy that a guy who had a history of misbehavior while on active duty can still be called up for active duty. It is also astonishing that a major defense contractor did not have a problem hiring a person with a bad military past and an arrest record for two time gun use. The shooter should have been a convicted felon for his previous violations of the law, who then would not have been able to own a gun, and also would not have been given clearance to go on the naval base. Greater enforcement of current laws could have easily prevented this massacre. Aaron went to the Veterans hospital twice last month for insomnia and was never committed. He also had PTSD. Since he was never committed he was then able to buy the gun he used in the shooting. Simple health care and security actions could have prevented this horrible shooting.

Syria

The past two years have been very tough for Syria. The civil war has caused a huge economic downfall. According to New York Times, in the past two years unemployment has multiplied five times its prewar value, and the economy as a whole has shrunk 35%. This downfall began in 2011-2012 when Syrian security forces used tanks, gunfire, and mass arrests to stop anti-government protests exhilarated by the revolutionary wave that started in Tunisia, Egypt, and Lybia. These small protests have now evolved into a huge civil war. 

The US has now been brought into this because of Syria's use of chemical weapons on their citizens, which violates international law, and also its constant support for democratization. The question is whether the United states chooses to intervene with force to remove the Assad regime from power, which would bring justice to the chemical warfare aspect of the problem, and also could create a new democracy. Having a democracy in Syria is not the only way this problem can be solved, but because of the United States selfishness we believe that the only way to run a country would be with a democracy. John Mills states that democracy has not worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, but instead has caused more trouble for the countries. This does not stop our belief in democratization because it is the self interest of the US to do this.

 My last post was about Adam Smith's Of Sympathy, and I think that the United States involvement in Syria relates directly to this selection. "Of this kind is pity or compassion, the emotion which we feel for the misery of others, when we either see it, or are made to conceive it in a very lively manner"(Smith). The United States has acknowledged the misery the citizens of Syria have gone through. Chemical warfare has killed 1,429 people. Obama feels for these people and wants to avenge their deaths with international justice. I think the United states stance in helping the Syrian people is also one of self interest.

I think that the United states stance on democratizing Syria is one of self interest that displays the selfishness of the country. On the other hand I think the United States stance on intervening in Syria to help the poor citizens is one of self interest but with out selfishness.

Relating to Adam Smith

Paragraph 11 of Adam Smith's Of Sympathy was interesting because it relates to how the wealthy view the poor in today's society and also how the poor perceive their own misery. "But the poor wretch, who is in it, laughs and sings perhaps, and is altogether insensible of his own misery. The anguish which humanity feels, therefore, at the sight of such an object, cannot be the reflection of any sentiment of the sufferer. The compassion of the spectator must arise altogether from the consideration of what he himself would feel if he was reduced to the same unhappy situation, and, what perhaps is impossible, was at the same time able to regard it with his present reason and judgment"(Smith, para. 11).  The first sentence of the quote explains how a poor person doesn't recognize how miserable he/she really is. When the wealthy look at the less fortunate they feel sorry for them even though the poor might still feel happiness. Most people try to put themselves in the poor persons shoes, but one can never truly grasp what they are feeling. The wealthy ascribe feelings to the poor as if they lessen themselves to their class, so they automatically see them as miserable even though they might be very happy in spite of their current stuff.
In my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee I volunteered for a non profit community development organization called Harvest hands. "Harvest Hands is a catalyst for Christ-centered, wholistic community development working alongside our neighbors to further healthy living, education, spiritual formation and economic development in South Nashville"(Harvest). The south Nashville community was economically very poor, but emotionally they were filled with happiness. This verifies that the poor are unaware of the misery we see upon them. I would try to imagine myself in their shoes and I would automatically assume I would be miserable. This showed how I put to much value into materialistic things, and also how Smith was correct on how selfish humans really are. 

"Our Mission." Our Mission. Harvest Hands, 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.
Smith, Adam. "Online Library of Liberty." Online Library of Liberty. Library of Liberty, 1982. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.