Morality and "Designer Babies"

In the Upfront Magazine article “Designer Babies”, a new way of having your dream child has been in the making. While parents could raise their kids well, many have decided that they would rather go a different way and create their own genetically modified babies. Now this may seem like a good idea if you want an easy way to get rich and live a good life, but at the same time, people should figure out how morally wrong it is. Humans are not meant to be tampered with, and greedy people such as the ones who want this invention must know that it is morally unacceptable.

The first reason why it is unacceptable, is that people need to realize the danger it is putting them in. If there were to be a mistake or a mutation in the baby, then  that would be putting much of the human race in danger. According to Jeremy Gruber, the president of the Council for Responsible Genetics, “You are conducting an activity that permanently alters the genome of an individual.” This goes to show that this idea could really ruin somebody’s life and be potentially dangerous to everybody near or close to them. Another reason why this is morally unacceptable is that people are forgetting the beauty of life. Without the normal birth of a baby, we could find ourselves living in a dystopian world where genetically modified beings are being cranked out by the minute to be shipped off to war, forced to sing and dance for peoples entertainment, and come up with new inventions while they might actually want to do something else. The parents are pretty much creating a future for their children that the children will have no say in

and that is extremely wrong and should not happen. Imagining a future with no freedom as a child is one of the scariest things to think about because most of your learning and life experiences happen at a young age. Now some people might think that this concept is a good idea because they want perfect little kids. This is morally wrong because kids are supposed to find their true hobbies and enjoy them rather than be forced by greedy parents to do exactly what they think you should have.

In conclusion, genetically modifying babies is morally wrong because children should 
have the freedom to become whatever they want and parents should not have the power to decide their kids future and what they will become. It is just a terrible thing to do, to control somebody’s decisions and try to limit their abilities.

"Should a Hated Word be Banned?" Upfront Magazine

Recently, the Israeli parliament has proposed a law that would ban the word "Nazi" from being used as a derogatory term on the streets of Israel. This was brought up just because of how teens would trash talk each other and use words like this that were quite hurtful and were meant to provoke another person. While all of this is going on, there are arguments on both sides of the disagreement. One side says that banning this word would be violating peoples basic rights, and in this case, the freedom of speech. The other side claims that the word makes them feel pain and it just reminds the people of Israel, a jewish state, that their own kind was terribly treated in their past. I believe that the word should be banned because Israel is an 80% jewish country and the use of the word in a derogative fashion would be absolutely hurtful.

The first reason why I believe this is that if over 7 countries have already banned the use of Nazi symbols and flags, the word would most likely mean just the same to them. Seeing the symbol would just remind the Jewish people of Israel about the absolutely terrible state that they were in not too long ago. Also, if you think about it, the use of the word "Nazi" is like the use of the n-word in a way, reminding a certain group of what the terrible state they were in and even though the word is not banned in the U.S., its use can not be anything but derogative. The last reason why the word should be banned is that the use of the word just reminds the world of the missing 6 million jews that should have lived to see the day that they were free when they unfortunately did not.

In conclusion, the use of the word Nazi should be banned because of all of the terrible things it reminds people of, and the way that it can be used to hurt someone very badly. Many people think the exact same thing of the n-word and its use. All of their arguments are just like the ones that I have and many other people believe the same thing. This idea was made just to protect the jewish people of Israel.

Bean Bag Chair

Shall I compare thee to a bean bag chair
The soft sculpture which gently caresses
The fuzzy short fur like buzz-cutted hair
Comfort and relief, which it coalesces

The leopard print fur which is outstanding
Guests that come leave with a realization
The want for its soft coat is demanding
It just deserves a standing ovation

But everybody wants to enjoy it
Leaving less time for me to relax there
So sorry for you, my rules are legit
When I want it, do not avoid my glare

But its all mine and that's all that matters
My beanbag is warm like food on platters

Martin Espada Essay

Famous poet Martin Espada has written many poems in his lifetime. They are usually about fairly heavy and deep issues. His connection to his heritage is common in his poems. They show examples of personal experience and different things that he can connect to that are geared towards immigrants and natives. In every single poem, Espada shows a common theme. This theme is the discrimination towards hispanics. In all of his examples of discrimination, he also shows an abuse of power. In the poems “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, “The New Bathroom  Policy at English High School”,  and “Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877”, this common theme is shown. In Espada’s poems he shows a connection to discrimination.

In the poem “Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877”,  Espada talks about history and events that he can connect to. In this poem, he says “More than the moment/ when forty gringo vigilantes/ cheered the rope/ that snapped two Mexicanos/ into the grimacing sleep of broken necks,”. This already shows hate for the whites from 1877 because of how he referred to them as “gringos”. It is already easy to see that he has a connection to these poor Mexican men. Even though this was over 100 years ago, he still sees the discrimination that may have changed hispanics forever and the abuse of power that the whites had used on the Mexicans who were lynched. This shows how Espada shows discrimination because his personal connection hints that he has experienced similar things.

In another one of his poems, “The New Bathroom  Policy at English High School”, Espada talks about a modern day issue that actually took place. For example, he writes “The only word he recognizes/ is his own name/ and this constipates him/ So he decides/ to ban Spanish/ in the bathrooms/ Now he can relax”. This shows that the man in the stall (the principal) is abusing his power by pretty much taking away the students’ basic rights. This is clearly an act of discrimination that is highly unfair. The principal thought to quickly and made a bad decision because of his feeling of discomfort or said constipation. This poem shows discrimination and the abuse of power because of the principal’s actions and the outcome of them.

Espada has poems that have to do with personal experience. For example in Espada’s poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, he writes “Whenever my name/ is mispronounced,/ I want to buy a toy pistol,/ put on dark sunglasses,/ push my beret to an angle,” This way that people mispronounce his name constantly annoys him. Later in the poem he writes “hijack a busload/ of Republican tourists/ from Wisconsin,/ force them to chant/ anti-American slogans/ in Spanish,” This shows how much anger is inside of him that he wants to let out whenever republican rich white men  go against immigrants and discriminate against them. All of this pent up anger is just an everyday feeling that he gets from this group of people. This poem shows discrimination in the abuse of power because it refers to rich Republicans with power usually exploiting hispanics and not caring at all.

In conclusion, Espadas poems whether they are about personal experience, historic events he can connect to, or just stories that he has heard, they all show the common themes of discrimination and the abuse of power. The reason he does this is that as a hispanic immigrant, he understands the terrible feeling of not being treated fairly and so by writing about it, he is able to release his anger and show his true feelings about what he believes is the justice that must be done. His “Revolutionary” poems go to show how non-hipanics or just Americans can feel his pain.

Upfront Magazine "Gauging the Cheerleader Affect"

In the article "Gauging the Cheerleader Affect", it is explained that in our modern society, the cheerleader affect has been affecting the popularity and hottness of a person. It is a very psychological idea that seems like it should be false but it plays with our minds and causes us to thing differently. As first noticed on the tv show How I Met Your Mother, the cheerleader affect was stated to be as something that causes girls to look better with friends but terrible by herself. Now this caused commotion in our modern society causing experiments to begin about this concept. An experiment was held in the University of California given out to random people to test their minds.

In the experiment, a group of 300 students were given pictures of different people, sometimes in groups and sometimes just solo shots. Then the students were told to rate the attractiveness of the person. The outcome of this experiment was ad expected, the same person was rated more attractive when in a group. So there must be a reason. According to the article, "The reseachers think the brain is melding together the group's facial features into a composite average, mentally Photoshopping out all the idiosyncrasies that become obvious when observing just one person's face." I believe this is true because of the other people (aka the distraction) cause the test subjects to look at the group rather than the fault in the woman/man's face.

All in all, this experiment was a success. It means that having wing men and women may be a successful dating strategy because of the outcome of this experiment. This has been agreed with by the psychologists in Psychological Science. With this discovery will also come many new experiments regarding all sorts of popularity myths and ideas and cause more than the average Joe or Jane to think differently when being socially active in our modern day pop  culture.

Blog Post on Motorolla Password Pill

The idea of change and reform in technology has been a recent trend in our popular culture. As social networking has been becoming more popular the need to remember all of your passwords has been quite a stress for most. But is there a solution? According to the article"A Password Pill?" from the January 13th edtition, the electronics brand Motorolla™ has come up with a prototype for opening all of your passwords, it is in the form of a pill. Some people like the idea for many reasons but many people also dislike the idea for other reasons. 

Personally I believe that this password pill is ridiculous and stupid because of its form, how its consumed, and its funtions.The first reason why I believe this is ridiculous is that it releases chemicals into your body. According to the article, "the edible password vitamin will use the acid in your stomach to turn itself on." This is not good because any object that is not melted by stomach acid cannot be healthy to have inside of you. The second reason why I think this password pill idea is bad is that ot has to be taken daily. I believe that the only daily pill should be a multivitamin. This tiny chip being released into your body cannot be good. Lastly, it's not even that neccesary. According to the article, "the average person logs in a password about 39 times a day, and it takes 3.2 seconds  each time." In actuallity, modern phones stay logged in to your account so you don't need to re-log in every time you open up that site/app. That is why this pill is practically useless. 

The password pill is useless because of how it is not needed at all. Its is just useless, unsafe, and just not good in general, people can just take the extra 3.2 seconds to log in instead of saving those "precious" seconds so badly needed. Also, it probably is made to cost an overwhelming amount of money every year. Companies like this are just trying to take advantage of their customers.

Omvivore's Dilemma

In the book Omnivore's Dilemma, the author goes around doing research on fast food and local farms and any sort of places where restaurant meat is produced. During this great adventure, he has many great discoveries about meat production these days, the slaughter houses, the  living conditions, the hard work, and the payoff. He realized all of the terrible things about slaughtering these animals and the entire process of food.
At first his opinion towards food is like any other american consumer. He loves food but he is curious to know more about it. He creates appointments with McDonalds chicken center, Cascadian Farms, and local farms and he goes shopping at his local supermarket. Once he sees the terrible things in fast food production places, he photograph them and analyzes the facts to find out how to feel at the next places he goes. Now at the local farm, he is allowed to slaughter the animals. The thought of that instantly causes him to stop eating meat and become a vegitarian. The thought of this ridiculous thing makes me feel terrible inside but it still wont  cause me to want to become a vegitarian. Next the author cooks a home meal, anylyzing the places where food comes from that he bought and he checked out how the farms were. They were mostly very good and he decided that the best way to go was a good old home cooked meal.
In this field style experiment, the author explains his full adventure, his feelings, his actions, what he will do in the future and more. I think his idea was very interesting in the way that he decided that he would sacrifice his time to find out the information that he needed. His experiment was a success because he was able to share all the secrets about these big name businesses that were kept secret before.