Affirmative Action

The definition of Affirmative Action sounds like an idea that will help everyone involved in the law, taking positive steps to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business. But to be honest, Affirmative Action probably does more harm than good. I understand what Affirmative Action is trying to do. It's so-called giving people an equal chance, particularly minorities. But in essence, it's technically making things more difficult instead for us all. First and foremost are the women. Affirmative action would do women more help in the past verses the present. In the past, it was much more difficult for a woman to own her own business and they were limited on the jobs they could do. As time passed, constitutions were ammended and the way of life in America slowly changed due to that. In today's world, many women already own their own businesses and are working a variety of jobs. In many work places the number of women who are employed are higher than the number of men. So to me, Affirmative Action sometimes gives jobs to women who don't deserve it. If a man and a woman are applying for the same job, and the man will do a better job than the woman, Affirmative Action would give the job to a woman when she is not as skilled at the job as her male counterpart. What if this is a police officer, a doctor, a stock broker, an accountant, because of Affirmative Action we would get less quality out of that particular service. This not only hurts us, but the businesses as well.
As for the minorities, in a way it is helpful because racism still exists today. It is just not as evident as it was in the history of the US. There are still many minorities that do not get employed because of their race when they are perfectly qualified for the job. So in a way Affirmative Action does clean this part of the US up a bit. But again you have to go back to if it's deserving. Does one African American deserve to go to this highly prestigious college despite the fact that a white man of the same age is a far better student than he is. It is also not treating everyone equally because before a college or a workplace can seriously look at employing people or accepting people for their skills, they have to worry about getting the first ten black and asian people into their business or university. So instead of viewing them as intelligent and a person that is very deserving of the job or occupation at a university, they are looked at as a quota to fill. That doesn't jelp anyone, it only hurts us. In a sense I still agree with this part of Affirmative Action because at least it gaurantees some minorities a chance at a job or attending a particularly difficult university to get into. Overall Affirmative Action is not fair at all and it does more harm than good. America is better of without this law as the times of this country has changed. The struggle for the particular group that it tries to help out, although is still evidently there, is not as difficult as it was in the past.

MLK "I Have A Dream Speech" Reaction

There were many differences between reading and watching the " I have a dream" speech. When I read it, I had to visually depict images in my head about how the area was like and the general atmosphere of the scenery and the people that were at the speech. Watching it, I saw how it actually was so my mind couldn't re-create the visual aspect of the speech. I felt more emotions watching the speech over reading it because I'm more of a visual person. Reading the speech stirred up a lot of emotions like pride, dignity, hope, happiness, and courage. Seeing the actual video only intensified these feelings and even stirred up more feelings inside than before such as hardships, and being greatful and appreciative of the things people like MLK did for my freedom. This speech was very significant for it's time because America was going through a racial struggle. This struggle resulted in violence many times and the fact that MLK preached peaceful freedom instead of solving blacks problems with violence, was a very positive thing.
Many lives were saved because of MLK and this speech was a big part in helping put an end to segregation. The racial climate of the early sixties was very harsh on blacks. African Americans were free but in a sense they were also not free. They didn't have simple rights such as the right to vote, they were placed in the poorly managed parts of public restaurants, and they were over all treated very harsh. Not as harsh as slavery, but the way they were forced to live was definitely unfair. They also had to fear for their lives as the KKK was on the rise in those particular times in history as seen in the movie, "Quantum Leap". I'm sure there were many white people like the main character in the movie that believed that blacks were just as equal as whites. This was the power struggle at that time to give blacks full equal rights. This caused a lot of tension and fear in the racial climate between both races. Both races feared violence was inevitable and it was only a matter of time before something disastrous would happen.
Again that is why the "I have a dream speech" couldn't have come at a better time. It showed the world that African Americans were willing to fight for their equal rights but in a non-violent manner. This helped the world to truly realize the harsh treatment the whites were giving blacks as they finally got to here the struggles blacks went through. They heard the voice of blacks and that made them second guess the way they were treating African Americans. Over time, laws and constitutions were passed that granted all colored people the same equal rights as white people. The "I have a dream speech" played a very significant role in the movement for equal rights. It is partly responsibly for how America is today.

Reaction to LAN 101 Movie

To be honest, I am not that surprised by the movie I saw on Monday. I knew AIDS was and still is a huge epidemic not just in Africa, but all over the world. I was surprised however by the number of people that had AIDS in New York alone. That to me was very shocking and if that number is so high, I can only imagine how high the number is for the infected all over the world. I have always been aware of AIDS but I never necessarily think about it all the time. The movie kind of makes me want to get tested because the people in the movie never suspected a thing. I have never taken any drugs so I don't worry about that. The movie was very deep and it really got me thinking. I hope that the world will address AIDS on a much larger scale than they are addressing it now. The movie was a bit scary to me as well. It's shocking how many people have AIDS and it just makes me wonder how many people in the world are not aware of the fact that the have AIDS.

English-Only Debate

I believe that proper speaking English should be the official language of the United States. I believe it should be the official language because it would bring the entire country closer together. Making business transaction, and engaging in a conversation with one another would be a whole lot easier for everyone. But I still believe that we should accept other languages because diversity is always a good thing and it brings more variety in terms of business to th US. I believe this country should have an official second language as well because it wouldn't be fair if English was the language you had to learn only and you don't have an option to choose another language. Whatever the second official language would be, it would appeal to that particular ethnicity to come to the US. Many other countries have multiple languages and it doesn't really effect them that much so it doesn't really make much sense to me as to why the US would have just one official language. There are some negatives having the US as the official language. Forcing others to learn the English language could be unappealing to foreigners when they think about coming to the United States. Foreigners may loose their natives culture in the process and some may find it a bit discouraging to learn a ne language but I still believe the English language should be the official language of the United States. It would make communication relatively easier.

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin was the former mayor of Alaska for 2 terms. She is now the vice presidential nominee for John McCain. She also served 2 terms on the Wasilla, Alaska city council. These are all good qualifications but I honestly don't believe that she is qualified to be our vice president. She was the governor of Alaska as well but she was not governor for long. The city she was mayor of had a population of 9,000. She hasn't had power over a large population of people for a long time. Being head of the United States is a much higher level than being mayor of a population of 9,000 people. McCain is old with many health problems so the chances of her taking over aren't relatively low. He hasn't even known her for over 2 years, I'm sure not even he knows everything he needs to know to see if she's most qualified to run our nation should anything happen to him. The people of the US don't know much about her and most people don't even know her views or where she stands. In terms of politics, I believe she is a bit too young and fresh to head the US. She does has experience but not on a large scale.