Elves Are Influencing Icelandic Government

We have recently finished The Crucible and having discussions about it. One of the last points someone in the class made was that they were surprised that so many people believed in witchcraft back during the Salem Witch Trials. Mr. O'Connor compared that to the fact that a lot of people believe in angels today. Even though I am Christian, I believe, like Mr. O'Connor, that angels do not exist. 

I recently came across an article that I thought was just completely over the top. This article claims that more than 50% of Icelanders believe in invisible elves. And I thought it was unusual for someone to believe in angels! Even though this data was taken in 1998, these beliefs have been around for centuries and it is unlikely that the percent of the Icelandic population's opinion would change much in a decade. 

According to the Icelanders, elves have their own community similar to that of humans. Elves have different types of jobs like humans, typically live in single floor houses, and attend church. If one disturbs an elf's home, the elves become "fierce" and serious consequences may arise such as the spraining of an ankle, mechanical breakdowns, or in some cases... a cow may die. There was even a case when the people of Iceland persuaded the government not to move rocks because it was "The Troll's Pass". 

As you can see, the Icelanders take the elves very seriously. The elves are occasionally reason for "local concerns" and the Icelandic government says that if a "certain location is cursed, or if supernatural beings inhabit a certain rock, then this must be considered a cultural treasure". Essentially, the government is stating that it respects any cultural beliefs its people have and that the responses of the government officials have been varied (some officials believe in elves, some do not). 

What are your opinions on supernatural forces? Do you think people's beliefs of the supernatural should influence the government like it did in "The Crucible" and Iceland?

King of the World

This morning, I read an article that really shocked me. It was breaking news about America's relationship with foreign countries. There has been a lot of discussion recently about the NSA and what they have the right to do regarding the American people's privacy inside the United States. 

A breaking news story indicates that the US is spying on other countries, specifically China, by surreptitiously inserting tiny USB cards into their computers. This cardinfects the computers with malware (aka spyware) which will allow the US to track what the Chinese do on their computers. Once the Chinese person connects the USB cord to their computer, American spies can tap into their computer.  They put a briefcase filled with gadgets nearby, which are then able to connect to the Chinesecomputers, so the US government can read their computers. To me, this whole process seems kind of James Bond-like. 

Coincidentally, China had been doing the same thing to us. When President Obama found this out, he was infuriated and "protested" this kind of action against the United States. Hmm, doesn't it seem a little unfair that America spies on China, but when China does the exact same thing to us, we get angry and demand that they stop? It does to me. 

That's the whole idea of American exceptionalism - we can do anything we want, but other people aren't allowed to do the same things to us because we're America. In America's world, we're the kings. Sometimes this mindset can be good, and sometimes it can be bad. Do you think the idea of American exceptionalism is beneficial to America or do you think it hurts us more than it helps?

Same-Sex Marriage Deja Vu

Within the past couple of years, love has been more accepted as many states legalize same-sex marriage. Utah was a recent convert after a surprise ruling by a US District Judge which said that the state's ban on same sex marriage violated those couples' constitutional rights. After this ruling, over 1,000 same sex couples were married in Utah.  But just a few days ago the US Supreme Court granted Utah a "stay" on the ruling which allowed the republican Utah Governor Herbert to stop all officials from marrying same sex couples. This puts those 1,000 couples in limbo as their fate is decided. There is a devastating possibility their marriages will be dissolved.

It is bad enough when gay couples are not allowed to get married, but it is worse when their right to get married is taken away from them. They have had a taste of freedom and now it's gone. The citizens of Utah have been left dazed and confused.  One Utah resident who was planning to get married to his partner, but didn't do it in time said "It feels like we are second-class citizens during the stay." Many predict that this will go to the US Supreme Court.

I think that allowing gay couples in Utah to get married then taking that privilege away from them was a bad decision and will only make same-sex marriage more desirable. In the past when this happened in California (2008), same-sex marriage was legalized within the constitution but then banned again by an amendment called "Prop 8". Many people got together and made peaceful speeches and demonstrations in favor of same-sex marriage. Demonstrations were now more passionate than they had been before because the people of California had already experienced the freedom of being able to marry whomever they wanted. This ended up being taken to the US Supreme Court in 2013 and they overruled Prop 8 with a vote of 5 to 4, legalizing gay marriage in California.

Based on what has happened in the past, taking away a privilege from people who have already known what it's like to have that privilege has not worked out well. If the Utah case goes to the US Supreme Court, I think they will legalize same-sex marriage just like they did for California. The Court's decision to grant a "stay" indicates their interest in the case, and the same nine judges sit on the US Supreme Court as did for the decision in Prop 8, so they are likely to vote the same way.

Although the gay community of Utah has lost hope for marriage equality, when we look at the past, we see promising outcomes. Utah is a hopeful case and if we keep our fingers crossed same-sex couples all over the nation will reap the benefits.

Why Are Asians Stereotyped?

As humans, we stereotype people everyday based on the color of their skin. In class, we've recently been discussing the stereotypes we place on African Americans and how society has deemed them as "criminals". This got me thinking about how we stereotype people of other races... Asians in particular.

We typically think of Asians as smart, competitive, and good at everything they do. But why? After reading an article written by the BBC, I think I've come up with an answer: China's one child policy.

In China, couples are legally only allowed to have one child. When parents only have one child, they don't have to divide their money and attention between numerous children and can spend all their money on one. The parents are now able to invest their money in the best schools, tutors, piano teachers, etc for their child. They pay a lot of attention to that child in hopes that they will succeed. By only being allowed to have one child, the parents are being forced to put all their eggs in one basket. They want their child to have the best life they can, so they push them to do well in school and activities.

The single children in China develop very differently than a child with siblings would. They aren't able to have that close relationship with a brother or sister that lasts a lifetime and can only have short term relationships with friends as they grow up. Studies have found that only children are "significantly less trusting, less trustworthy" and less optimistic.

China's one child policy has since been relaxed slightly and some parents are now able to qualify to have more than one child. However, many parents chose not to have more children because they feel like since they would have to divide their attention and money between several children, their children will feel lost in competition with other children. Do you think the one child policy has benefitted the single children or hurt them?

Tornadoes vs. Typhoons: Who Wins?

A couple weeks ago, a destructive tornado hit the Illinois town of Washington.The tornado covered a lot of ground and damaged more than 2,400 homes. The death toll has risen to 7 and many of the survivors are telling their inspirational stories about how they made it through all their hardships regarding the tornado. It was all over the news. Every time I turned the TV on every news station would be talking about this "disaster". I assumed the extreme amount of coverage was because I live in Illinois and this is an event that has occurred close to home. But I got a call from a friend in Connecticut asking if I was okay and if my house got destroyed. I was surprised to get a call from her because I didn't expect the news coverage to reach other parts of the United States, and if it did I thought it would be minor coverage. She thought it was weird that I was surprised and told me that the news channels made it seem like a horrible disaster had destroyed every one's homes.

Not too long before the tornadoes hit Illinois, a devastating typhoon destroyed the Philippines. The death toll is nearly 4,000 and continues to rise as debris is being cleaned up. Almost twice as many people have already been killed in the Philippines than the number of homes damaged in Washington, IL. Yet, our attention is focused more on those affected in Illinois than those affected in the Philippines. Only 14% of Americans said that they have contributed to relief efforts for the typhoon. When surveyed, less than a third of Americans said they were following the news on the typhoon in the Philippines. This is less than half of the Americans that followed the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Why?

One may argue that we see more people from Illinois in our daily lives. However, an article in the LA Times states that there are 3.4 million Filipinos living in the United States (roughly 1.25X the population of Chicago) and America has strong political ties to the Philippines. Then why are people so uninterested in the disaster in the Philippines? Why is there more news coverage of the tornadoes than there is of the typhoon?

Are Rentable Bikes Safe?

This past summer I took a trip to  New York City and was surprised at the amount of Citi Bike Stations that I saw. There was about one every 4 blocks and at one time I could probably see 15 people using a Citi Bike. I really liked the idea of rentable bikes as an environmentally friendly alternative to cars and hoped that it would catch on.

In June of 2013, Chicago implemented a similar system into its own City: Divvy Bikes. I tried Divvy bikes out for the first time over this past long weekend.  It's a little stressful to ride bikes through the busy streets of Chicago and I was pretty surprised that although they encourage you to wear a helmet, they don't require you to wear one nor do they have any for rent (you would have to bring your own). After going through the system, I found it would be very unlikely that someone would just happen to bring a helmet around with them.

So when I went home I googled what kind of training is required before you rent a Divvy bike, and found out there is none!  At the posts where you rent the bikes they don't even have an introductory video of rules you must follow. They have online training you can check out, but basically anybody can pay $7 to rent a Divvy Bike to get around town. It's very unlikely that anyone's going to look up Divvy Bike training online.  On an article from the Huffington Post website there was a video of a lady riding her Divvy bike in the middle Lake Shore Drive!  Although this is not technically illegal because it is a Drive, not an Expressway, this is totally not safe. This woman could easily be killed because she is not wearing a helmet and is doing something unsafe, and I'm sure she isn't the only one out there.

Just about anyone has access to these bikes, as long as they have a credit card. Literally a 5 year old would be able to ride their bikes if they stole daddy's credit card. I read an article in the New York Times about people in New York using the Citi Bikes to ride home from bars to avoid getting pulled over for drunk driving. Although drunk biking is not as dangerous as drunk driving, it is still extremely unsafe. The biker could seriously injure themselves. These rentable bike station would have no idea that drunk people are using their bikes for unsafe reasons. Breathalyzers or some other way to make sure the customer is sober could be implemented, but they would surely be expensive. Would it be worth the money to install something like a breathalyzer into each station? Would people use the bikes as much if helmets were rented out with the bikes?

Duck Dynasty in the Dining Room?

Last Friday night my new neighbors called me to babysit for them. I had never met them before and when I got to their house I was taken aback by something I saw. In their dining room stood a life sized cardboard cut-out of one of the characters from Duck Dynasty. If that wasn't weird enough already, they had dressed him up by tying an American flag bandana around his neck. This reminded me of the family who displayed a KKK robe that Isabel talked about during class the other day and made me think about the kind of things different families value. 

Of course there is a possibility that this is a leftover Halloween decoration, but Halloween was a couple weeks ago so that is a little unlikely. I wondered what the motivation was to display this cardboard cut-out. Were they proud of this Duck Dynasty character? Did they think he was "American"? Is this the kind of person they want to display for their kids? Or did they just think it was funny?
I hope that the family did not purchase this cut-out because they idolize the Duck Dynasty characters. 
I saw this before I had officially met the family and this definitely conveyed a certain message to me. Without even knowing them well, I had already judged them... Like Isabel's friend judged the family that displayed the robes of the KKK. 
What we choose to show others says a lot about us. It is so easy to make assumptions about a person just because of what we see. We judge people all the time. We like to think that only certain people live in the North Shore: wealthy, polite, classy people. When I saw the cardboard cut-out, I unconsciously categorized them as a different type of people than they actually are. 
Luckily, they turned out to be a normal family.