Choice

People have a desire to be in control of their lives. I think that as a species, we have this desire for control. We may desire to control people, personal actions, or simply a factor in our lives that impacts us. I think that when we cannot control an aspect of our lives, it feels like we have lost control. When we lose control, we look to blame some sort of a control: we look for people or things to blame. By saying that it was the fault of someone else, we can no longer say that it was in the control of ourselves.

 "The choices we think we are making, expressions of our freedom, are being made subconsciously, without our explicit control." 

The quote above was published by Marcelo Gleiser in a blog post published by NPR about the concept of The Fate of Free Will. He made this conclusion after observing the results of many scientific studies done regarding the decision making processes of the brain. The idea that the decisions that I make being out of my control makes me very scared of what could happen to our society if people buy into this scientific concept. If people begin to buy into this concept, they may begin to recognize that declared freedoms are being diminished by their own brain, I believe that people will think that the consequences of their decisions are inadequate. 

Philosophers all over believe that the choices that we make are the things that we latch to and take responsibility for. They also believe that anything that is done to stop us from a goal or from success (no matter how small or large), is generally presumed as something that is out of our control and something that is not our responsibility. Timothy O'Connor describes this in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, he said that "The presence or absence of these conditions(external factors) and constraints are not (usually) our responsibility, it is plausible that the central loci of our responsibility are our choices."

If we lose the ability to make choices, we also lose the sense of control in our lives. In a study done by the University of Texas, Austin, researchers came to the realization that there is a predictable pattern of brain activity when we are faced with the opportunity to take a risk. Sarah Helfinstein, a postdoctoral researcher on this case sums their research up by suggesting that “We all have these desires [to take risks], but whether we act on them is a function of control.”

Whether the choices that we make are really being overturned by our brain activity or not, we must recognize the desires that we have and the choices that we make because of these desires. With new research being introduced about the brain, it is up to the general public to decide how we will react to this new information.

The Future of Journalism

As Journalism as we know it begins to change, in order to stay ahead of the continually changing consumer economy, we must be innovative in order to create a successful company/news channel. To create a news company or system, we must look at current trends that represent what our consumers want. Then, we must create an idea or prototype that will display our thoughts about how the company will distribute its information.

Paper publishing has slowly but surely faded away in the rank of occurring journalism. The internet has taken over publishing. Online journalism has allowed access to information at any given time and it has allowed us to "choose" the stories that we pay for and the stories that we read. At almost any given data search base, you are required to pay for an article once you past the abstract. Some will allow you to pay for a single article, while others will require you to subscribe to the company. This is becoming more prominent in journalistic companies as well.

Journalism is turning to the internet and the internet is being placed into cars. Google is creating a self-driving car which could allow for a completely new mode of transportation and the amount of things that could be accomplished while "driving" in your car. During Journalism class, a group of students and I were put to the challenge of creating a new system to display journalistic news to consumers. We immediately thought of the the self-driving car. We began to experiment with ideas on how we could display news in the cars and how it is displayed currently. Together, we made small changes to the traditional entertainment system in a car and that led to a very new operating system.

At first, we recognized that we could display information on the windshield of the car because it would not be necessary to see the road ahead. This information helped us to create a panel of options that would appear on the windshield that would be large, at eye level, and extremely accessible. The "screen" would be operated much like a television. It is controlled by the center counsel which is a touch screen. By pressing the silver arrows, you are able to "thumbs up (show me more) or thumbs down (show me less)". By pressing the side arrows, the news that is being displayed will switch.

We then looked at how important social media is becoming to America. We decided that in order to satisfy the wants of consumers we would need to create an "applications" program. In this program, you are able to use the arrows to navigate through the sites. By using the side arrows, you are able to access multiple sites and by using the up/down arrows, you are able to scroll through the news feeds. This program would also allow you to play games on your counsel which would then appear on your windshield.

Could this be the future of journalism? I'm not really sure, but I do know that journalism is changing and that in order for it to survive, journalists must create new ways for it to live. Whether this is the way that journalism can survive, it still does not change the fact that journalism is constantly changing and adapting to consumer wants and needs.

Journalism is passion.

Journalism is not simply reporting. It is what you begin your day hearing or looking at, and it is what you see as you close the page of a newspaper or turn off the news channel for the night. I believe journalism is more than news though, because I believe that news can be so microscopic and meaningless, but still be passionate. As consumers of a first world country, passion drives our economy.

Without passion, there is no meaning to anything. There would be no purpose to picking up a magazine if the publisher decided to invest 2 minutes of a 1400 minute day to writing an article about something. It would most likely be a story that would be comparable to one that was written by a kindergartner. Maybe there could be one argument in it, but it would probably be a mess of a story. When we do things so mechanically (without any investment) and without thought, there is not any emotion.

Emotion is extremely meaningful in publications, we see it in the news almost everyday. It is evident that emotion is used in publications because it is used in commercials, public apologies, and through storytelling. As journalists, we write in a way that will have an impact on another person or a group of people. We share details that will make our audience feel. Whether they feel awful after learning about it or they feel compelled, this feeling is so important to maintaining a supporter.

The commercial above was published by the ASPCA, its use of music and pictures are used to draw attention to the company and to make you feel bad about what is happening in the world while you are sitting on your couch snuggling your dog and not doing anything to help other animals. It uses pictures of beaten animals that you stop to think "what if that were my pet?"

UNICEF does a very similar thing to what the ASPCA does in this informative video. It uses general knowledge to show you how high our quality of life is compared to the other 14% of the world who does not know when their next meal will be. It displays pictures that are so focused on how terribly these people live. Almost every picture shown in the video is of a child crying, yet it uses such simple phrases to tell the general public what is happening across the world.

People need find a passion for something and to run with it. The creators of these videos that bring tears to our eyes, have a passion for what they do. Because they are so passionate about their ideals, they are so convincing. They are well educated on what they want the public to know have found a way to bring their opinions to the public eye in a very dramatic way. I believe that this dramatic appearance is what is what journalism is. Whether we show this through storytelling, an article, a picture, or a video, journalism uses emotion to be informative.

Truth #2

"If the answer matters, you have your answer"

-Tim O'Brien

Truth, for a five letter word, is extremely complex. It is definitely not a simply defined word, but instead, it is extremely unique. I wrote a blog about truth two years ago and as I reflect on it now, I have come to realize how differently I feel about the word. I define it completely differently as I used to. For example, I have come to think of it as a simple reality.

As I have matured, I have learned more about the world and established different morals that define me as a person. I have discovered that there are such a great number of beliefs and that it has personally become harder to categorize or classify people based upon their beliefs. People have different morals that make up their own reality. Everyone holds a separate book full of knowledge of their own memories. Whether it be things that they have heard, things that they have seen, or the way that they have lived everyone is completely different. Just because we share a similar genetic code, does not mean that we are the same. Tim O'Brien shares this in How to Tell a True War Story by stating that "If the answer matters, you have your answer." I think that this is his way of telling us that every person has a different perspective, and that each person's unique perspective is true to them.

We can look at different perspectives just by looking at our bipartisan government system. We vote people into office because we believe in them. We might have trust in their beliefs or we might believe that they will benefit us in some way or another. This being said, many people look for a mutual connection between our morals and a politicians morals. I think that the reason we have more than one political party is because we are not all the same, we have different things that are true to certain individuals. Democracy would be impossible if there were only one right answer to every political issue.

Truth is anything that touches home. I think there is more to the word than its traditional definition of something factual. I believe truth is about your own reality, and there can be more than one reality. The truth is not something that is cut and dry, we argue about different truths because we have different truths.

Affirmative Action

Throughout America's history, we have experienced problems through discrimination. Although as a government, we have overcome legal boundaries into ensuring equality in our country. Slowly but surely, we are securing equality for minorities, for female, and for those who have grown up in a lesser environment. As we have struggled to form equality, different laws and restrictions have acquired an argument of one of today's norms; the affirmative process.

Affirmative process has stirred controversy in America over the last few years. Colleges search for diversity during admissions processes. Many colleges use the affirmative process to accommodate and provide relief for the less fortunate, ethnically diverse, and even those with poorer hometown locations. Although this has provided America to help educate people from different experiences, it is now becoming controversial because we have began to accept more people as equals. An article done by the Huffington Post, suggests that overall, approximately 63% of Americans still believe in this process.

An author educated on this cause, Sheryll Cashin published the book Place, Not Race which discusses the problems in our current affirmative action process but then goes on to suggest that we should focus on the applicants background rather than their ethnicity. Personally, I agree with her very much. I believe that if we are offering special consideration to students, they should be students who have overcome challenges that many others have not needed to face.

Affirmative action is something that will remain controversial. As our country changes, viewpoints on it will change along with the opinions of the time.

Difficulty of the Public Eye

Presidents, Senators, Representatives, corporate business owners, professional athletes, musicians, and actors are almost always in the public eye. They are idols of young children, and they make decisions for our country. Despite the fact that most younger children aspire to become any of these things, a job in the public eye can pose major difficulties when it comes to withholding a private life.

The owner of the basketball team the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling, is a current example of how people in the public eye need to be extremely cautious of decisions they are make whether it be just, or unjust. Sterling said something that was considered to be racist to his current girlfriend which soon became public. When news reporters got a hold of this story, it soon became a ‘scandal’. Sterling, alike politicians was told to sell the team that he owned to better the situation.

Media has a way of dispersing information fairly quickly and sometimes it may not be truthful or beneficial to the public. We have seen this in presidencies such as when President Nixon was in office during the Watergate break-ins, but we are also seeing it today with the basketball issue, and the unveiling of two years ago in Benghazi. In today’s day and age, it has become apparent that it is very difficult to maintain both a public and a private life if you are a public idol.

Indian Heritage

When Englishmen settled in America, indigenous natives referred to as Indian's, already ruled the land. Slowly but surely, we gained control of their land. We tell our children stories such as The Great Thanksgiving and although we may completely alter the truth of the story, they have become important to the story of our country.

As soon as we gained control over the natives, our ancestors grouped these people into special places of land known as reservations. The United States government has granted each of the reservations the right to have a government of their own choice. Many of the governments are run similarly to the 3-group system (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branch) that the United States have. Others, may run it completely differently by having committees for control, or even the tribal government that most television shows would portray an traditional Indian tribe to have.

In America, we hold stigmas against our native people when we may not even know the real story behind this culture. Many people believe that they have extremely low high school completion rates, high unemployment rates, and high poverty rates. Although Native Americans may follow a more traditional way of life, we look down upon them in our current society because they follow different systems than the way that we live.

In a TED Talk done by a woman with Native American heritage, they discussed the different problems that are holding Indians back from becoming an accepted part of our society.


The lady then further explained how native Americans truly live and who they are. To be completely honest, nearly all of the history teachers that I have had portrayed any Indian tribe similar to the way the video described how a citizen without the whole Indian understanding, would describe an Indian.

Whether you live on an Indian reservation or 1,000 miles away from one, it is important to know what truly happens in their lines. Based upon the information I have come across in class and other peoples responses on the importance of our natives, I have come to realize how little our society knows about Indian Reservations. I believe that in order for us to resolve current stereotypes, we need to further educate American citizens.