I really don’t know where to begin because there are so many problems that exist in today’s society. Everyday, the media seems to throw the big problems that we face as Americans in our face. Sometimes it seems that they glorify the problems and hide the good things that we do as Americans. It is so easy to talk about what is wrong. The list is extremely long when it comes to problems. It is hard to pinpoint just three issues that deserve to be talked about. If I have to pick three problems that deserve to be talked about today, they would have to be the problems of violence and crime in America, the media and their poor images of that they place on people in this country and the AIDS epidemic.  

The first problem I am going to discuss is the problem with crime and violence in America. As technology gets more and more advanced in this briefly changing world, it is getting easier and easier to commit violence. People are taking their right to bear arms to another level. Their ability to own guns legally and illegally are on the rise. Now my twelve year old cousin can make a few calls and acquire a gun or weapon to protect him self. Guns used to be kept at home away from children. They were used to protect against home invaders and the likes but now they are used to get a pair of sneakers (particularly the popular shoe brand made by the popular basketball player Michael Jordan) from a fellow school mate on a basketball court. The rise of single parent households are increasing at an alarming rate which is causing the interest in gang violence and having a “family outside of the home to increase right along with it. The world is becoming a horrible place to live in. Crime is on the rise everywhere. Gone are the days when you could go to sleep with your doors unlocked and rest assured that your children would still be there in the morning. We are in a time when your best friend in high school could place you right in the middle of a human traffikating ring. What a world? Where do we go from here? What can we do to make our world a better place? If it is this bad now, how much worse do you think our world will be in a few years? When our children are grown? When their children are grown? We stand by and watch as a senseless war with senseless violence goes on an ocean away. We watch as little African nations fight each other for a little power not knowing that no matter who wins, no matter who kills more of the other guys, they won’t really control anything.

The second problem is the poor images that the media has a tendency to place on many things. They have a tendency to show negative images of the African American community, women and body images. There is a negative image of African Americans in this country. It seems like only the bad that is done within the community is publicized. They show that within this community, all there is gang violence and drugs. They try to make it seem like that is all black kids have to look up to is becoming a drug dealer, going to jail or being a rapper. They had a tendency to focus on the bad things that did happen and kind of gloss over the good things that were done. They are getting a little better at this but not much. The media also has a bad habit of not representing women in positive light, especially African American women. I heard a story about a well educated black woman in business which went to a country where they had never seen a black woman before. When they saw her, they thought she was a stripper or a “video girl” because that is the only image they had seen on television. That is ridiculous. Media also has placed a negative vibe on body images. They make all these teenage girls uncomfortable about their bodies because they are not a size two with long legs and a long, graceful neck. The images that the models portray nowadays, it is hard for a average teenager to decide that they want to stray from the image.

Finally I will discuss the AIDS epidemic with you. This is a subject that touches close to home. Do you know who is leading the pack in new AIDS cases every year? African American women would be the one holding the torch. Before the 1980’s, no one knew what AIDS was. Then it became a disease that only homosexual men got. Now it is a disease that affects any and everybody, people of all ages and both sexes. No one is immune to get infected with HIV or AIDS. There is a bad stigma towards AIDS, HIV and the people who have it. I think this is why it has gotten a chance to get so big, to become the monstrosity that it has become. Before every one thought that you had to be a drug addict, someone who was homosexual or bisexual. But now, we know that that does not have to be the case at all. Anybody can get it. You don’t even have to be grown or conscious of your actions, newborn babies get it. Innocent children do too. They have to pay for the mistakes of those who are aware.

The problem that I think would be the easiest to get a handle on is the one of the media. At this point in my life, I can not find a cure for AIDS but I can make high school girls feel better about their bodies. I can show them that every body is definitely not a size two and that is alright. That is what makes this world so great. We are all different and unique.

I have read and do understand this course’s plagiarism policy. It is really self explanatory. This is the same course plagiarism policy that we have been getting since freshman year. Most people have also been hearing about plagiarism and how it should not be done since they have been old enough to write so why start now. Plagiarism and cheating are really serious offences at the university level so why take the chance when you could just do your own work.

The Bible in western culture is one of the most influential books in the history of writing. It is also the basis for three of the world’s most popular religions which are Judaism, Christianity and Muslims. In this “book,” people who are associated with these religions get the laws for their societies, a history of the religion and a list of the important peoples who contributed to their religion. But, in all actuality, there is no such thing as “The Bible” as we know it. The Bible comes from the Greek word “ton biblion” meaning “the scrolls or the book” which is literally what this is. The “Bible” is a composition of many small books all wrapped up into one. The number of books varies from version to version. There are two different versions of the bible, the Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible. These versions have 39 and 66 books respectively.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 8:53 pm and is filed under Week 02: 3 Big Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.