"Of Headless Mice..and Men"

The creation of technology has not just helped the economy to explode with ideas but have a lot harmed society in such dramatic ways. One idea that has been lingering in the minds of scientists is cloning and recreating human life. The idea behind this all sends chills down my spine. Why are we trying to prolong life when we can't even control the few lives that walk the plant today. Incubating tiny infant organs to grow into larger ones that adults could use and creating artificial wombs is a scary theory. It will not be long before these technical barriers are breached. Man kinds trying its hardest to find cures for everything but I do not agree in cloning and building a human with no mind of its own just to use it for certain organs. Now the idea behind creating single organs sounds more sensible. The idea of creating a life that has no thought or choice of its own is completely wrong. Charles Krauthammer opened my eyes up to something I had no clue was orbiting the minds of society. University's around the nation are putting much effort into this new study hoping to change the lives of many. The cost behind this all is way to steep for the average Joe who may be in need of help. One family spent over 100,000 in cloning there pet. Imagine how much cloning an entire human body would cost a class C citizens. The idea of cloning a headless human is not "normal". The thought behind this headless clone was to initially keep your living personality or consciousness going indefinitely. This goes beyond all of my believes. The clone will duplicate only the physical attributes of you. Basically your twin minus the emotional add one's. Human cloning should be completely banned before a huge mistake is made and can never be retrieved.
As Charles Krauthammer stated..."If we flinch in the face of the high-tech barbarity, we'll deserve to live in the hell of heralds."

"Movie Ratings"

"The most infuriating aspects of the MPAA ratings remain their obliviousness to the artistic intentions of directors, producers, and screenwriters."
The question stands...DO WE REALLY NEED MOVIE RATINGS?
There is no question that we need movie ratings. Some portions of movies are not stable for the younger generations to watch.
Now we ask ourselves...WHAT DETERMINES THE RATINGS THAT MOVIES GET?
Generally movies are cut up and edited by the MPAA in order for the producer to successfully direct and publish a movie to the media still abiding by the MPAA rules but fulfilling the art behind the movie. Sexual scenes and gory scenes become very touchy and the main focus behind the rating system. Some movies don't even make it onto the movie screen in theaters due to the rating of it. Producers go through much heart beak and squeamish choices just to make money off of the expensive production process. Movies get rated by using "G", "PG-13","R" AND "NC-17". Most editors feel that the MPAA is an unfair judgement system for they have backhanded many production companies. The flawed system can not be abolished but can be made more transparent. The media feels that the secretive members of the rating board are unqualified and make unreal artistic assessments. As a growing adult, I have been able to notice in many movies how grotesque some scenes are but are not rated from an appropriate eye. The media needs to understand whose eyes are watching these movies and take into consideration the society as a whole and make a valid synopsises on what is happening in our day to day lives. The finger can not be pointed mainly on movies but this is a good start.

"Nuclear Waste"

Richard Muller is a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkely. His etiquette throughout this journal was very studious. The whole purpose of this writing was to deliver information based off of his studies and his confessions on nuclear waste. I, not being interested in nuclear waste, was not interested in this reading. He did deliver valid information and approached the subject with confidence but the subject bored me. He overused his statistical information confusing me throughout the entire writing. The last paragraph was the most informational though to me. Out of all the reading this did not fit in with the other ones. The reading was not catchy and delivered to much statistical information out at one time. Numbers after numbers pushed into equations made it a hard read. It is apparent that nuclear waste is a huge dilemma that is not gaining the right amount of focus in order to help minimize this problem or help change this growing epidemic. Richard Muller's main focus behind this writing was to force people to recognize the dangers of nuclear waste. It is understood that in years to come some of these environmental problems are going to be to big to fix and that now is the time to react off of our published matters. Pushing our personal focus on he more important factors, like mother nature, is the only way we are going to keep life in full rotation.

"Life is Precious, or It's Not"

Columbine is one of the most sensitive topics spoken about towards young adults and their social lives in school. Coming from Virginia were we recently had a school shooting at one of the largest colleges, I am more understanding of the topic of school violence. During the Columbine situation two students took over there high school one gruesome afternoon. The shoots began mid day and ended late afternoon after the police arrested the victim's. I call them victim's for they suffered from there own unstable decisions. They were victim's pushed by their peers. Some students who witnessed the upbringing of these two boys offered insider information based on the boys social lives. They were frequently picked on and bullied by the students and teachers of their school. Some of the students and teachers that were harmed or killed were individuals that cased them mental harm. As studies went forth after the shooting, on of the boys was sent to a psych ward were he was diagnosed with an unstable mind. So is it true that guns and violence are provoked by outsider influences or is it programed in our minds that killing is a natural feeling courser? Do the video games, movies, and political choices house were our feelings derive from? Does the media also play a role in how we react to certain situations? All of these questions can lead to more that one answer to why we react in ways that we do, but who says what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. Personal choices can be controlled by the power of the media as Barbara Kingsolver states but we in control of our own lives need to better observe the obstacles that we come upon and draw paths that best fit the situation.
Children are paying attention and this we need to realize. They are like little sponges and absorb everything put and said in front of them. The 0 tolerance rule should then be put into affect here and our children should be monitored to force them to see the world as a sharp object ready to cut away at our hands if not held with caution.

"Why We Crave Horror Movies"

Are we all "mentally ill" as Stephen King would say? Are we all hiding from our true feelings and emotions by hiding behind our screams and spine chilling jumps? Do our minds thirst for a "good scare" as we give our soul to the film writers who posses what we urn for? I, as an individual who loves scary movies, is never one to jump in a movie theater. As I sit at the edge of my seat, crunching on a bag of freshly popped pop corn and smacking on a box of sour patch kids; I wait. I wait for the creeping music to climax. I wait for the killer to mysteriously come from around the corner as the victim stands oblivious to their quaking death. Sometimes I notice my eyes widening as my heart beat speeds to the pace of an anxious roller coaster ride. Is this really "fun" to me? I can only imagine how it feels to be the one in the movie. I assume there heart is thumping through their chest twice as hard as mine. This thrill that I engage in, certainly craves my inner "mentally ill" personality.

"Horror movies are made to deliberately appeal to all that is worst in us"
-Stephen King

Everything about this statement is completely true. Killing in cold blood for most of us "mentally ill" individuals is something we enjoy watching for we can put ourselves in the movie without physically doing the actions and reaping from the consequences.

Stephen King's writing style is not meant for the average individual to understand. You to have to enjoy what he enjoys in able to understand the theory behind it all. He is a very blunt writer but carries his words with a lot of power that forces a distinct thought or idea to linger in your mind and follow you as you fade deeper and deeper into the plot.

Crack and the Box

The one question everyone asks is "Why?"
Why is the root to every ones concern to everything. Can we really base the truth off of why or does why only give an opinion answer. Why people choose to do drugs is a personal question that not one person can make assumptions towards everyone on. Dope is a drug that in most minds makes them disappear from there anger and sorrow and put them in a state of mind were nothing matters but there happiness. Narcotics and drugs are always going to be apart of our lives. History has shown a huge development of drugs and pushed it to were it is today. Now to compare drugs to TV watching is obscured. There is no link between the two. We not only see drugs on TV but we are also exposed to it in school and work. It is our parents or legal guardians responsibly to control this exposure and educate us on not just the right and wrong but on what to do.
In response to addiction, anything can be addicting. The background behind addiction is being aware of your addiction and learning what to do to help top or minimize the addiction. The reason people participate in certain activities is to escape from the world outside of the box. We want to feel at ease and stress free from whatever we feel is holding us down. Everyone knows that life is not easy nor fair and sometimes this causes people to give up turning to other options of happiness that most turn there nose up to.
Did anyone consider how these individuals could possibly feel? Do you completely understand their story for sitting and staring into the metal square in the wall? Did you even consider there childhood or habits that they may have been raised with?

As They Say, Drugs Kill

This by far was my favorite article that we have read. The hook line completely shocked me and grabbed me encouraging me to read more. All college students can say they have been to a party were something wrong has happened. It does not have to be to this extrema but we all have been through a situation were we needed to think on our feet. Laura Rowely, creatively constructed an outline for this forcing the reading to read on with the shocking story that outlined the theme.
As one student said during our class discussion...
"You never know what your going to do in a situation until you are experiencing it in the heat of the moment!"
This statement couldn't be more true. If a circumstances happens at the drop of the dime there is no time to think critically. You have to think on your toes. Decisions are meant to be made sometimes without thoroughly thinking through them. This adds to the spontaneity of an individuals character and allows your personality to be read in a different light.
Most of the decisions that we make are influenced by previous decisions that we have made on similar situations. Our past experiences to stick with us no matter how hard we try not to let them affect our decisions.
Now in reference to the drug topic, no one is forced to smoke or drink or pop pills. These are all once again personal choices. You have to educate yourself first before you decide to put things into your body. Anything that can alter you normal state of mind can easily turn into a bad experience. The blame game now has come to a stop and you have to stand up to your own self. Like the author said...
"...lessons are supposed to be learned, so that old mistakes are not repeated."