JJ's World Views

Tag: Politics

  • What Type of Society Would You Like to Live in?

    What type of society would you like to live in?  Collectivist or Individualistic?  This is a question we were asked in Pillars of Leadership program at school this week.  This is a very hard questions to be asked and takes a lot of thought as to not give people the wrong idea.  If you say you want to live in a collectivist society people in the states think China or the former USSR.  If you say Individualistic people think of America and the corporate plutocracy that runs it.  I would chose a combination of both a more socially individualistic and economically collectivistic society.

    In America we have been traditionally a socially collectivist and economically individualistic society.  This means socially if you were different from the group you were labeled the outcast, different, freak, ect…  If you are are not white, Christian, hetrosexual you were the other and have historically been segregated against in one form or another.  Yet, if you raised have money, and power you were held in high regard even worshipped to some extent.  This paradigm has been hard for me to live in because I do not think the way I was taught to think.  I do not view wealth or power as a success factor.  I also see people as individuals and judge them on there actions not race, gender, sexual orientation, ect…  I view happiness and empathy as how successful a society is in the grand scheme of things.

    I do not think that it is up to the government or corporation should  decide what you do as a career or job.  I feel we help people to reach their potential in the field they enjoy and are good at.  Yes, this is would not be a nice and ordered society but it plays to people’s strengths and move society in a more positive direction.  This allows people to find out who they are and what they are passionate about.  This also breeds a much happier society and less conflict.  I feel that when a society reaches a certain level of development that the government can not only help it’s people militarily but making sure that the basic necessities are taken care of like food, clothing, housing, ect… They would not get to chose these thing for them, but, helps people to afford these items making sure no one is left behind or falls through the cracks.  This way the economic schizm does not grow so great that a few people control the rest of the society against their will.

    People will ask, “But, if we don’t have money to use as an incentive how can we motivate people to do the work?”  To them I answer ” There are many ways to motivate people like their passions. some people like helping others, some like to create things like art, science, or music..  Think of all the artists that have died in poverty, like Van Gogh, yet, after their deaths the pieces would have made them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  Think of people in the scientific realm like Nicola Tesla who died in poverty not to be respected till well after his death.”  How many minds have we wasted because of the greed of our society?  How many more will not have the opportunity because others think that because they are wealthy they are the best?  How many ideas will be stolen because of greed and pride?  These are questions I asked myself when people ask me “What type of society I want to live in?”

    I feel we need a combination of both in our societies and no pure system will ever work in a world full of differences.

    Peace and Love To all who read this and even those who don’t.

  • Atheist Picnic in Syria

    Absents of god, black and white to gray. Basking cement,
    feet burn in an instant. Crimson sands crusade the west.
    Driving lawnmower, fresh grass permeates the wind.
    Evaluating resource wars, metalrockrapclassic.
    Frantically savor, Jolly Rancher Bomb Pop.

    Greenbacks coarseness, no warm huckster’s pockets.
    Honorable people clamored in pain.
    Intend no harm, sweet nectar peace abounds.
    Jostling aroma grills, beefporkmesquite.
    Killing rainbow faith swirl, no side trustworthy.
    Lone bucket splash, knowledge wisdom anguish.
    Medieval knights to manless birds swooping unknowns.
    Nap cooks back like crustacean pot water boiled. Objective trying search prized metals Plato. Pushing peace talk selling weapons sultans cheer. Questing cold in swampy air makes skin moist.

    Random music plays in the mind, silenced drivel. Syria split false dichotomy tares’
    society. Table set aground, whiff munchies ants march.
    Unraveled mysteries, grow louder when near. Vexed
    rosy rage nearer two decades, no calm. Wind nips twilight,

    near trees douse the sun. X-mark goal
    carries like dandelion breeze. Yummy, marshmallow
    chocolate and gram. Zonk, the cradle collapse under
    black gold weight.

  • Demographic News Viewing Poll

    In my U.S. Politics class we are separating into groups and doing a poll on the Demographics of News viewing habits.  I am asking if any one would like to participate in the poll.  It is confidential and only 14 questions and it should only take 5 Minutes.  You must be 18 to take this poll.  To take the poll click here.

    Thank you for the help.

  • Earth Day 2017: March for Science St. Paul, Minnesota: The People

  • Political Discussion and Active Listening

    I know I have focused a lot on the presidential primaries and caucuses over the past few months. There is also so other elections happening as well that can affect our country happening this year on the national and state level, we cannot forget about these. As November 8 approaches we all must be diligent in looking at these candidates. These people can be bought off by the big money interests that have been hindering our democratic process. These races include governorships, state and federal senate seats. If we elect those who can be bought in any office this is a bad thing for the states and country as a whole.

    So remember the closer we get to November 8 let us all do our research on the people running for these seats and share the information on all sides not just the GOP or the Democrats. There are other parties out there as well Like the Green party, independents and Libertarians. We need to start including more parties in these processes in order for us to make any progress in this country. When we encourage healthy debate, this means setting aside our own Bias and actually listening to one another and using critical thinking skills, this country can become a true world leader with standards and ethics that others can follow once more.

    REMEMBER WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW AND WHEN IT COMES TO DISCUSSING THESE WE MUST MAKE SURE TO UNDERSTAND THE DETAILS OF WHAT OTHERS ARE EXPRESSING. Here are a few steps to help us all understand one another.

    1. Know yourself, this means know your bias and set these aside when talking about these issues.
    2. Actively listen, make contact and show the other person respect by making sure you clarify how you understand what they are saying. This can be done by Paraphrasing (putting what the other person is say in your own words) this way if you are not understanding them they can can find a better way of expressing their view.
    3. While the other person is speaking DO NOT be trying to come up with a counter point in your head. When we do this we are not actually listening we are hearing. The difference is listening is an active process while, hearing is passive. I remember a quote from Jimi Hendrix and I am paraphrasing here Listen to the music do not just hear the music. When all we do is hear the music you miss the message.

    WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PERFECTION FOR THIS IS TERM IS COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE EVERYONE. ALL WE CAN DO IS MAKE OURSELVES BETTER AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF MAKING THIS A BETTER PLACE FOR ALL, NOT JUST FOR A FEW BUT FOR THE MAJORITY.

  • Should we Break up the States?

     

    I have heard a few of my old friend say that the states should become their own countries.  These people also think they are patriots.  In some ways I kind of agree.  I mean our constitution is set up like a treaty if you really think about it.  Most of the states where not there at the time of the signing of it.  This would ease the tax burden on people a bit, not having to pay federal taxes.  We would only have to pay state taxes, which would be federal taxes I guess at that point.  Every country would have its own currency which would be easier to keep a closer eye on it.  This way the few would not have so much control over the many.

    This would also give many that still lived in a democracy more control over their government.  This would promote more activity in the political process which could be much better thing.  People would be more willing to stay informed if they actually thought they had a say, unlike the current system we have now.

    We could give the new countries there national guard back.  If there was a war the individual countries could come together and fight side by side.  May be do drills together annually, this way if the militaries of the countries train together they would be less likely to want to fight them.  So, there are a couple of positives but I feel there are some major drawbacks to this.

    One of the major problems I see right off the bat is what to do about the nukes.  Does anyone really trust the south with nukes?   The KKK would definitely rise to power again and the right wing religious fundamentalist, would want to kill anyone not like them or believe the same way they do.  We would be more like Europe was in the dark ages.  Hell I consider the time we are living in now the Social/Technological Dark Ages.  I is little doubt in my mind, if it were not for our current level of technology we would already be in the dark ages.  We have not yet learned how to live socially yet in this new world.

    Slavery might come back into play if we were to divide up.  I do not think it would be successful though.  The countries which did not legalize it could put major economic pressure on them.  Which brings us back to the nukes again.  How many people think that there would be a leader that might try and play that card just out of spite.  Look at our political climate right now it is crazy.

    Though slavery most likely would not last long I think, Segregation would definitely make a comeback in many parts of the country.  I feel many leaders would try to become permanent dictators, or at least try.

    I want to say right now I know that not all people in the south are bad people.  I lived in Florida for 10 years I know plenty of people from the south.  It is the people they elect that scare me.  I am a Humanist I believe in our potential as a species.  I feel we are not ready yet as a country or s species to do something like that in this country.   Then again people usually only learn when bad things happen to them, so maybe we should, just for the wake up call.

  • Suicide Squad

    So, today I went to see Suicide Squad for the first time.  I saw a bunch of reviews on it and wanted to see it for myself.  Let it be known I am not big on comic books, but I love the cartoons and movies.  Now that being said I liked this movie, yes it had its flaws but what movie doesn’t.  The thing that stuck out most to me was the theme behind it.  Whether the studio meant it this way or not, to me it was an allegory on the U.S.’s international policies in the middle east.  I do not go searching for meaning in movies, it is just where my mind goes when I see similarities in life and art.

    Look it how the U.S. has handled the situation in Iraq and Syria. When we went into Iraq  and took down Saddam.  This to me was when Joon found the Enchantress stumbling into a cave without really thinking about it.  Then we have have Waller who is part of the government who puts together a force of people that are pretty shady to say the least.  We fund and train rebels in both Iraq and Syria not knowing who is good or bad, eventually creating ISIS.  This is where the Enchantress breaks free and starts wreaking havoc, just like ISIS in the middle east.  Which had lead us to where we are at today over there.  That is a basic analysis of the theme for me.

    I liked the backstories of the Characters they did them on like Deadshot,Diablo, Harley Quinn and the Joker.  I thought that the bar scene was interesting, a lot of people I saw review the movie thought it was forced.  I thought it was fairly natural considering, I mean what would you do if you just found out that you are fighting a earth destroying witch.  Hell I would head to the bar as well especially being a villain and after being kept in the dark.  I would have probably done the same thing.  Who knows it could be the last time you do that.

    Could they have made a better movie? Yes.  I think if they would have had a couple of Batman movies with the characters in them it would have helped a lot.  The same thing with a Flash movie. This would have provided more context into the characters and more in-depth back story.  I think Warner Bros. jumped the gun and didn’t think thing through enough.  If you’re going to build a universe you start from the ground up.  We do not need the backstory for Batman but more on Deadshot and the Harley and the Joker.  I would like to know what is up with Capt. Boomerang and the pink unicorn.  Diablo seems like he could be a really interesting to me.  The same could be said about Killer Croc.

    This was a decent movie in my opinion.  I give it 6.5 out of 10.

    I know this is not the best written review it is my first one that I have written.  If you have any comments that would make it better please let me know.  If you need clarification let me know. please I will do my best.

     

  • Day 3

    Today was a long at school, this wasn’t because the classes were boring I just had a long break between classes.  The classes were rather interesting today with Freshman Comp.  and Theory and Practice of Tai Chi Chuan.

    In Comp. we watched a Ted Talk on “The Danger of a Single Story”.  What is a single story?  A single story from what I have gathered from the video is a one dimensional look at the world (seeing things from one point of view).  An example of this is the way we see Donald Trump speak about illegal immigration and the people in the middle east.  The issue with a single story is: they have a tendency to breed ignorance, bigotry and hatred in those who are not willing to do research and/ or go out and meet people who are different then them.  At least, that is what I had gotten from the video.  We see people who buy in to the single story trap so much in our society today, it is astonishing to see in this day and age.

    In between classes I had a lively and invigorating discussion in the smoking area about religion, politic and corruption.  This is one of the things I love about college, actual intellectual conversation about tough topics.  I get to practice my conversational skills without the pressure of hurting someone’s feelings or someone just getting up in my face.  I just can not to that with my old friends and family. That is one thing that has stifled my personal growth as a human being.  I am someone who enjoys that type of conversation, because I get to actually exchange ideas with people instead of having them dictated to me.

    Then in Tai Chi it was a basic first day until we started learning the moves.  I am so out of shape.  We first learned a stance, then practiced breathing and lastly how to walk.  Doing the stance was difficult for me because I had a hard time keeping my toe connected to the floor.  The breathing was not too difficult, it is something I have been practicing for a while to keep my stress level down.  The hardest part for me was the walk.  I am a big guy, out of shape and extremely right side dominant.  When I was done with the walk my left inner thigh was killing me.  The muscle had started cramping up on me it felt like a bunch of needles poking in to a single point on my thigh.  I am going to need a lot more practice and push myself to make sure I can do this correctly.

  • My thoughts on “An Evening with Malala Yousafzai”

    For those who know me they know that it was here story that inspired me to get the mental help I needed for my Clinical Depression, head back to school to become a teacher and hopefully join the Peace Corp.  So when I heard she was going to be speaking here in Minnesota I was absolutely  thrilled at the chance to see her speak.  I bought my ticket early in June and the had already sold out the cheap seats, that kind of sucked.  That’s ok I figured if I am going to an event like this I want to get close to the front anyways.  I ended up 8 rows back on the left side of the stage, damn close,  that rocked.  The weeks went by and I couldn’t wait.  I had my nephews over the 2 nights prior and was so excited about the upcoming event that I wanted to share her documentary with them, in order for them to understand why this was so exciting for me.  Joey my 14 year old nephew got bored and played his video game.  Mason age 10 watched it with me and was asking questions about her, he really wanted to try and understand, and I did my best to explain things to him about what she went though.  He is such a cute and loving kid.

    Then on July 26th I headed to the Target Center here in Minneapolis to see “An Evening with Malala Yousafzai”.I ended up fighting through traffic, it was busy as hell for a Tuesday going in then I realized that the Twins were playing right next door at Target Field.  Yes, we are the home of target here in Minnesota.   I still made it there with a half hour to spare, which was nice.  As I walk into the arena I see a stage to nice comfy chairs and a little end table.  The back was lit with a blue bubble like lighting.

    IMAG0080[1]
    Image from my seat before the Anyone came out to speak.
    This was the first time I had gone to a speaking engagement.  Let alone go there by myself.  I expected the auditorium to most likely be packed with women of all ages.  The thing that surprised me was how many men were there, it was about a forth of the audience, all different age groups. It looked like a full house.

    Then the interviewer, , came out to give the introduction to Malala.  She talked about her background, which most people who were their most likely know I would assume.

    Next Malala comes out to a standing ovation, I am not a clapper but damn my hands hurt after I sat down and wiped the tears from my eyes.  Yes I am a cryer folks when I am happy,sad, or inspired, But I digress.  After the ovation calmed down she spoke about her thoughts on Minnesota  and what she has experienced while she was her, all the while cracking jokes about how “NICE” we are here in Minnesota.  She talked about the young Somali women she met and what they discussed like how comfortable they feel here and how welcoming we have been to them in Minnesota.

    Malala with Somali women
    This image is from Everything Somali

    The interview begins between Allie Shaw and Malala.  They tackled some of the differences she sees between Pakistan and her current home of England and here in the US.  Malala talked about her experience’s  over the past few years and what she had learned.  Malala knew very little about any other religion except for Islam.  She  had some words to say about religion in politics and compared it, I felt, to the money in politics problems we have here in the states.  It seemed to me she that she felt neither should have a role in politics.  This did not surprise me to much at least the religion, hell she has seen what happens when you mix religion and politics up close and personal.  This is something here in the US are battling ourselves, just not as severe YET.

    The one thing she liked to joke about was her little brothers and they pick on each other.  I remember from the documentary “He Named Me Malala” how lovingly they joked with one another, it was refreshing to see.  She also admitted that she didn’t know that WWE was fake till she was 17.  This took me by off guard at the time but, now that I that I think about it, it really should not have though she has 2 little brothers who probably love wrestling entertainment.  Hell, I like the stuff from time to time when they have decent stories and talent.

    So yes, I was not disappointed with this event at all.  If you get a chance to see Malala Yousefzai you should definitely do so.  Of course this is coming from someone who is a bit of a fan boy.

  • Random Thoughts and Ideas I

    Pokemon GO! is all the craze right now.  How can this game going to help the human race? These are a question that just popped in to my head.  This Go! gets people out there walking which promotes health and good living.  People are meeting new people and immediately have something in common. This promotes community and lowers the fear of the other.

    Here is what I think they should try next.  I would like to see completely different sets of Pokemon for each country, state or continent.  This would get people to start exploring this world more.  This would promote travel.  If they set it up right they could push a cultural exchange through the game as well, with each team having their own team of developers to ensure the pokemon would have the cultural relations to the area. They could have a pokemon dedicated to each sub-culture in that area.   This I know would be a tremendous undertaking.

    This is just one of my crazy ideas to help change this world.  I know that no one Ideas will fix everything in this world.  There is no cure all.  But I feel if we as the human race combine the best of our ideas and build on them that we can make this world better than what it is today.

    While writing this I just realized something about myself. I don’t just want to be a better me, I want to be a better human.  For this is the one thing we have all in common.  This is the starting point of any talk about peace in this world.  This is the most obvious of places to start when talking about any injustice.  Then move down to civilian and authority.  It is time for #civilanlivesmatter.  Here is the thing I agree that the black community has been targeted by the police, in the past and now days.  There is another traditionally targeted group that is not talked about that that is the mentally ill.   This gives the group more people to come over and put more pressure on the our representatives in government.

    We all forget that Government is a tool.  It can be neither good nor evil.  It is all in how we use this tool.  What happens to a tool if you just leave it outside, it rusts and becomes junk.  What happens when you take care other tool and keep it out of the rain, it will last a long time.  This is like our government so many of us have left it out in the rain that it has frozen, locked up.