Conveying Points

 

Exceeded exposure to violent content leads to desensitization. “In a 2004 study of 150 fourth and fifth graders by Professor Jeanne Funk, violent video games were the only type of media associated with lower empathy” (ProCon) Empathy, the ability to understand and enter into another's feelings, plays an important role in the process of moral evaluation and is believed to linked to aggressive behavior. As the level of empathy decreases the player loses the feeling of guilt accompanied to harming the victim. When the player stops receiving this feeling, their virtual pastime becomes an option for reality; if the child is getting rewarded for inflicting pain in the game they might try to do it in real life. “A 1998 study found that 21% of games sampled involved violence against women” (Sex Roles) Exposure to sexual violence in video games is linked to increasing violence towards women and attitudes about rape that promote the idea that women incite men to rape or that women secretly desire rape. Video games often reward players for simulating violence, and thus enhance the learning of violent behaviors. Studies suggest that when violence is rewarded in video games, players exhibit increased aggressive behavior compared to players of video games where violence is punished (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology). Repetition of violent acts leads to increased tolerance of violence.

A study was published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal shows that suggests that teenagers who play violent video games are more likely to cheat, experience increased aggression and have reduced self-control. A group of teenagers were asked to play an assortment of games, some of which were violent and contained mature content. In the first experiment, the players were offered chocolate in a bowl and told to eat freely as they played, but were advised that eating too much sugar in a short amount was not healthy. The results showed that those who played violent videogames ate three times as much chocolate. The teenagers were then asked to solve a 10 question logic test. For each question they got right, they were rewarded with one raffle ticket that they could exchange for prizes. The participants were asked to take the correct amount of raffle tickets from an envelope. However, the researchers knew how many tickets were in each envelope so they would know if any of the participants had taken more tickets than they had earned. Results from this experiment revealed that the teenagers who played violent video games cheated more than eight times more, compared to those who played non-violent video games. The next test allowed the player who won to "blast" the losing player with a loud sound through headphones. Teenagers who played the violent video games blasted the unseen partners with louder and longer noises, compared with those who played the non-violent games (MediLexicon). These results help to prove that violent video games have a negative effect on players.

Incidental Progress

When hate crimes occur, people get offended because it becomes clear that humans are not as pure and compassionate as they are cracked up to be. On October 6th, 1998 a university student was beaten nearly to death and left to die tied to a fence outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Matthew’s sexuality led people to believe that it was a hate crime against homosexuals. Based on various pieces of evidence, declaring this murder as a hate crime is false, but it ultimately made a positive impact on the LGBT community.

 Aaron McKinney participated in sexual acts with other men; this dissolves the argument that this murder was committed purely based on Shepard’s sexuality. McKinney’s sexuality is first questioned when an anonymous letter is sent to the court. In Stephen Jiminez’s The Book of Matt, he discusses the contents of this letter, saying that the writer calls McKinney’s antigay defense crazy because he was seen in gay bars and hung around with gay people and seemed “comfortable with that sort of thing.” The letter also states that McKinney would offer sexual acts in exchange for drugs or money. McKinney’s participation in such activities proves that he was far from homophobic. This speculation is furthered in the 2004: ABC News 20/20 report: The Matthew Shepard Case when Doc O’Connor, a limousine driver, tells the interviewer that he knows that Aaron is bisexual. He admits to participating in threesomes with McKinney. O’Connor is a local resident of Laramie and is close to McKinney, his testimony is perceived to be correct because of their close relationship. Kristen Price, McKinney’s former girlfriend and the mother of his child, says in her 20/20  interview that he would always try to get her to have threesomes with him and his friends, which she always refused.

The crime happened supposedly anonymously, but evidence shows that Shepard and McKinney knew each other prior to their meeting at the Fireside bar. This implies that there may have been stronger influences on the crime. Knowing their involvement in the drug community, other factors such as drugs and money are to blame.  Multiple sources have witnessed that Shepard and McKinney in fact knew each other and that they were both heavily involved in the meth trade. This supports the assumption that this crime could be more heavily motivated by drugs and money rather than sexual orientation. In Stephen Jimenez the Book of Matt, Elaine Baker, acquaintance of both McKinney and Shepard, says that the two definitely knew each other. She states that she had seen them at a party together and that drugs were involved. This further disproves the popular story: two homophobic men murder a random gay man in order to teach him a lesson. Cal Rucha, the prosecuting attorney revealed in his interview with 20/20 that “it was a murder driven by drugs”. Rucha realizes McKinney and Shepard’s strong involvement with meth and that sexuality had little to do with the murder. Ryan Bopp, a close friend of McKinney’s, says in his 20/20 interview that in the days leading up to Shepard’s murder, McKinney was using meth very frequently. His strong reaction to Shepard’s “pass on him” could easily be justified due to the drugs. While the motivation for this crime was not homophobia, it has ultimately been good for human rights. The media coverage gave this movement a face and caused a lot of progress to be made.  

In the Laramie Project by Moises Kauffman, Jedidiah Schulz says that “...it just seemed way blown out of proportion. Matthew Shepard was just a name rather than an individual.”(Kauffman 96). If this case had not received national attention, the LGBT community might not have received so much positive change. Jon Peacock, Shepard’s academic advisor, addresses his impact on society and his change in human rights. He says that “In retrospect, and I can only say this in retrospect of course, I think that’s where he was headed, towards human rights. Which only adds to irony and tragedy of this.” (Kauffman 18). Although Shepard was not able to further human rights in his lifetime, he was able to be the poster child for the movement that changed everything. Shepard’s dad, Dennis Shepard is able to see this; “Matt’s beating, hospitalization, and funeral focused worldwide attention on hate. Good is coming out of evil.” (Kauffman 94). The murder brought on the change most gay people were dreaming of. This tragedy brought so much improvement it is hard to disprove the ruling as a hate crime.

In 2009, president Obama signed the Hate Crime Preventions Act in Matthew Shepard’s name. Eleven years after his murder his name is still a label put on hate crimes and gay rights. Matthew Shepard was being portrayed as an angle in the media coverage which creates a myth. Every story was so exaggerated; each reporter focused on his innocence and sexuality while in reality Matthew was no saint. His involvement with methamphetamine added so many factors to this murder but his sexuality seemed to drown out the others. While his case may have been falsely diagnosed the impact is extreme; the murder had other motives than solely his sexual orientation but its impact is still lasting.

The Verdict

Every opinion can be backed by evidence. Both sides of an argument can make valid points, while this is useful to each side, it makes the decision process that much more tricky. Due to the severity of the case, Matthew Shepard's trail was very controversial. Some arguments say that it was indeed a hate crime and that it should be treated as such, while others see that there were hard drugs involved and that Matt should not be promoted as the angel people saw on the news. The media was able to state the evidence in such a way that it made Matt out to be a helpless, innocent, gay college student. What the news did not cover was the involvement with cocaine, prostitution, and money.

Impact of Media

Controversial events and topics can be argued from both sides. The impact of media on Matthew Shepard's murder is highly disputable. While it labeled the town of Laramie and interrupted the grieving process, it also shined a light on gay rights. The influx of attention aimed at Laramie, WY made the impact that much bigger. When asked about Laramie, Jedadiah Schultz said "...after Matthew, I would say that Laramie is a town defined by an accident, a crime. We've become Waco, we've become Jasper. We're a noun, a definition, a sign!" (Kaufman 7). Laramie, being a large and sparsely populated town was not used to being known for something other than railroads. After Matthew's murder the town was being recognized as a homophobic, under educated, and primal town because that is how the media was portraying it. The media stopped the community from grieving and coping. Rebecca Hilliker, head of the theater department at the University of Wyoming talks about feeling insulted when she heard about The Laramie Project, but she adds "...I thought about it and decided that we've had so much negative closure on this whole thing. And the students really need to talk. When this happened they started talking about it, and then the media descended and all dialogue stopped" (Kaufman 9). When incidents like this happen, the community involved need to talk through the confusion, but the media suffocated this process. Instead of asking what was wrong with the killers, everyone in the community was being bombarded with reporters asking what was wrong with the town. Dealing with all the bad press made people who were affected by this wish it never happened for all of the wrong reasons. The Baptist minister's wife said "Oh, yes, I think we are all hoping this just goes away"(Kaufman 25). Instead of realizing that this was an example of why hate crimes need to be stopped, people were wishing the town could go back to normal. The media can twist words, actions, and opinions in some cases this can be very detrimental. 

     

While the negative effects are large, the positives that can come out of having this in mainstream news can actually help make progress. Many civil movements have been put off far longer than they should have been because the public is so underinformed. Before Matthew's death, 33 other hate crimes had been committed to the gay community (documentary). The media helped make this particular one widespread which helped raise awareness. The other hate crimes may have been worse, or more offensive, but the media made this one well known. Coverage on this event gave the gay community a poster child for the movement; this made the issues seem more human by giving it a face. Forcing people to see difficult news can help to encourage change. The first step to improvement is realizing that their is need for some. Matthew's death opened up the darker side to discrimination against sexual orientation. This tragedy helped push for improvement.  

Specifically Targeted Crimes

The setting and mindset plays a major role in the long and short term effects of tragic events. Laramie, Wyoming is a large, scarcely populated area and the influx of reporters turned the hate crime into an even bigger deal. When the group of reporters arrived in Laramie and met with the local Drama teacher she states that she wanted to say 'why are you doing this to me?' (Unplanned Events). The growing popularity of this town caused the residence to resent the crime for all the wrong reasons. People were no longer mad that it happened they were more offended by the attention. Media coverage on tragic events can cause even more damage to the town and people involved. Ms. Menough shared a personal story when introducing the book, a couple from Laramie came into her work and immediately shut down when the Laramie Project was brought into the conversation. The huge amount of media coverage allowed for a margin of error; the news stories were blaming the town. People living in Laramie were now being held to new stereotypes based on this tragedy, they felt they were being viewed as a noun, or a street sign. (Laramie Project) As if the name of their residence said more about them than their ideas and morals. Laramie was not used to this amount of recognition, and this caused more blame to be placed on the town than on the incident itself. 

Hate crimes are often more appalling and offensive than random crimes. Criminal acts done to deliberately produce a message to a specific social group are classified as hate crimes. These groups can be based on ethnicity, gender identity, language, nationality, physical appearance, religion, or sexual orientation. Countless crimes committed in order to make a certain group feel inferior every year. Race has been a topic of conflict in this country, during the Civil Rights Movement African American's were targeted based on their skin color.  The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) flourished in the 1960's. This specific hate group performed violent acts in order to prevent progress in the Civil Rights Movement. Also during the Civil Rights Movement, many specific murders were committed. In 1998, James Byrd was savagely beaten and killed. This crime was committed by three white males against a black male, purely because of his race; there were no other suspected reasons for the crime. For this reason, the murder was considered a hate crime. Crimes can also be unintentionally be a ete crime. Even if the reasoning was subconscious they can still single out a group of people. In February of 2012, a seventeen year old black boy was shot and killed by a neighborhood watchman. The shooter's defense was that Trayvon was 'threatening' but he was only carrying a pack of skittles and tea. The only 'threatening' thing about Trayvon was his race so it is considered a hate crime. The singling out of a specific social group is considered a hate crime.

   

Tragedy Leads to Success

Tommy Land by Tommy  Lee was presented this past week. Tommy is Motley Creu's drummer. Being in this band only added to his drug problem. He was known  for his large drug problem which he acquired during his years with the band. The band was notorious for their party attitude; they lived to party and drugs were easily accessible. Tommy is a big guy with an even bigger temper. This often got him in trouble with the law. On numerous times Tommy was accused of throwing paparazzi. Tommy was also accused of spousal abuse when he allegedly kicked Pamela Anderson who was holding their child. Tommy eventually was able to sober up. Since he has been clean he has helped other celebrities on their way to sobriety. Tommy has clearly learned from his experiences.

Malala Yousafzai's memoir I am Malala showed her struggle and success growing up as a Pakistani woman. She values knowledge enough to risk her safety to pursue it. Growing up in male-dominate Pakistan education was not guaranteed for girls. Her father awakened her thirst for knowledge and she risked everything to fight for it. She wrote a blog in an area that was controlled by the Taliban, whose members feared education for women. They feared it would make them more powerful. At the age of 15, Malala was shot in the face by members of the Taliban. This tragedy further addressed her goal. The incident helped motivate her to continue to fight for her rights and others. She continues to fight for equality of gender and race, now backed up by the accomplishment of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala was faced with severe violence but continued to fight without a step backward.

Memoir Observations

Having listened to dozens of memoir presentations this past week, I have realized how similar most memoirs are. Each presentation, while with different details has one of two or three plots. One of which is the classic 'comeback sports' memoir. Jose Conseco's memoir, for example tells his story of baseball while using steroids. Sports memoirs usually tell the story of the athletes young career, their struggle, and finally their resolution. RA Dickey's memoir goes through his troubled childhood, into his early baseball career, to his missing ucl, and ends with his resolution. Ironically, many professional athletes have struggled with drug abuse. The athletes put so much into their game that every set back is near death in their minds, and eventually the pressure proves too much. Maradonna was  a short tempered soccer player was addicted to cocaine. Sports memoirs while similar, describe different events and athletes.

The other memoirs seemed to describe some strange childhood occurrence. The stories were never the same, but they were all equally as 'out there'. For example, Kacey Dugard's A Stolen Life tells of her experience of being kidnapped and contained for 18 years. Kacey had opportunities to escape but she never tried; she was so brainwashed that she actually started to enjoy her kidnappers' company. The other memoirs were not quite as dark as this one, but they had events that seemed fiction. The Liars Club was about a family where the kids had to raise themselves while taking care of their crazy parents. Mary Karr's parents were both alcoholics, and her mother tried to kill herself and the family multiple times. While this story is also depressing, there were other memoirs that were just crazy. For example, Running With Scissors was about a boy who is adopted by his mother's therapist who was equally as crazy as she was. The events were so strange that at first I thought there was no way it could be a memoir.

Some days are a challenge from the beginning

My memoir has taken a very depressing turn. Jennifer Sey, the main character, has become fascinated in eating disorders. She is only ten at the time and already gymnastics has become a dreaded part of her life; while she still loves it she is terrified of disappointing her coaches and parents. The fear is getting to her mentally and physically. She bites her lip until it becomes a huge canker sore, and then she continues to bite it every time she is scared or nervous for a skill. "The fear never abates. It is constant, relieved only in the instant I have landed on my feet. It surges again and again and again. Agitation and fright is my perpetual state of existence. But I ignore it as I climb back up onto the beam..." (70) Sey fights a constant battle of fear, not just of the obvious danger but also the fear of disappointment and failure. 

Sey's description between good days and off days is flawless. "On a good day, when injuries didn't rankle, being in the gym was like flying. I felt invincible, not held back by the typically assumed constraints of the body. The flying wasn't what most people would imagine. It was never the flipping-through-the-air part. It was the being on the ground but feeling weightless and suspended" (99) On good days gymnastics is great. Everything seems to come easily; swinging and landing just seem so natural. But on bad days even the simplest of skills take everything out of you. "...on these days, even my skin pained me... A bad day at the gym for a gymnast was never like a bad day in the pool for a swimmer. My times wouldn't just be slower. I knew the danger was real. It was possible that I would land on my head, break my neck. I could, conceivably, die"(100) I don't know this to the extent that she does obviously but I know how the fear amplifies exponentially on the not so good days. The easiest of skills always seem to be a mystery on those days; never knowing where you're going to land because every turn feels different. 

Seeing past the obvious

Starting to write a college application essay was eye opening to say the least. I didn't realize they were so short; I was picturing a huge 10 page essay describing everything that has happened in my life and how it affected me as a person. For Seattle Pacific my essay is coming along well, I just need to cut out the unimportant details. I need to cut out a lot of documentation and add more analysis. For La Crosse I haven't really figured out what I am going to write about because the prompt focuses more on what I can bring to the campus and I don't know how to write that exactly. Somehow I need a way to answer the question while still telling a story so I can connect the two.

The short memoir we annotated in class really helped to explain the method used to write memoirs. Although, using one small seemingly insignificant memory to explain views the writer has on life is definitely easier said than done. My writing is not quite poetic enough to pull such an extreme example off; he was able to describe his drunk uncle, his relationship with the family, and his feelings toward them as well without directly saying anything. I need to work on annotating because I completely skimmed over some of the things the class pulled from the piece.

Positive Thoughts, Positive Outcomes

The day I figured out the mental part of my flick-lay on high beam was, shockingly, a moment that has the way I approach obstacles. I stepped up, positioned myself in line with a small crack in the wall in front of my beam, and without thinking, swung my arms and did the series. I finished, and while I was surprised that I had stayed on, I was more surprised that I hadn't died in the process. The butterflies faded and I really started to think about what I had done differently. Finishing my series assignment was always less about staying on the beam and more about doing it in the first place. I fought a war with myself before every attempt; going through every painful possibility of how the series would land. Thinking to myself as I stood on the beam "What if my hands are a little too far to left?", "Wow, I've stuck three in a row. This one is almost guaranteed to crash.", or "What if I suddenly forget how to do a back handspring (something I've been doing for years) and completely die?". After this series though, I realized how counter intuitive this interrogation was. Feeding one's mind with negative thoughts before doing something even the slightest bit risky turns into a self professing prophecy.    Flick Lay Video

Turning Something into Nothing

Based on the essay we looked at in class I decided to commit to reading Chalked Up by Jennifer Sey instead of Shawn Johnson's memoir. While Shawn Johnson's story would have been more relatable and interesting for me I decided that Sey's story has been bottled up enough to make a true memoir. Johnson's olympic experience happened only a few years before she published her memoir and according to the article, a great memoir takes time and privacy; the author's 'valve' needs to explode rather than be forced open. Publishing her memoir so soon ultimately turned her wonderful experience into a short half baked story instead of allowing it to develope into the great memoir it had potential to be. Sey's story is more depressing and the things she experienced shaped how she viewed herself. The book also shows how she learned to deal with the negative image. This memoir encompasses the experience, the result, and the recovery, which makes for an interesting read.

I loved the slam poetry we looked at in class. The poet used one small memory in his life and used it to describe much larger ideas of life. He made a seemingly useless catch phrase apply to things he struggles with and how he gets past obstacles. I have never thought about poetry being a memoir. The way he let something so small explain so much of his life shows that the essay was right; in order to make something out of nothing pressure is needed. He turned a bratty little kid into a beautiful metaphor through years of thought and processing. He was able to show that the need to be in control at a young age never really goes away.

Wait, does she even go here?

For years I have been nearly invisible. I grew up in jeffco and I went to Standley Lake for freshman and sophomore year. Even though I had grown up with everyone there they had no idea who I was on the outside let alone my story, so this pretty much sums up my life. 

All You Need to Know

There is a beauty in perseverance, and the ability to keep going with a smile on your face is nothing less than inspiring. Whether it is a hard practice, a big let down, or a hard fall I believe that it is important to get up and keep going. Failure is something that plays an important role in my life. That may sound pessimistic but it is entirely true; failure is how you get better. I am a level 10 gymnast so failure is something I have had plenty of time to get comfortable with, and the further I get in this sport the more I have learned to embrace imperfection. Less than desirable experiences have made me who I am. "It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep movie forward..." for the past few months I have lived by this statement. I have realized that a 'perfect gymnastics career', while still impressive, does not leave as much of an impact as the gymnast who has been through hell and back to get where she is. Failure and  imperfection mean you are changing something, they are signs that you are trying to get better. Failure does not define a person; it is simply a necessary step to success. 

One single flower on a run down house is almost more beautiful than an entire garden of bright, colorful, perfectly planted flowers. The organic nature of the flower makes its growth mean so much more because its not the same as its surroundings.  Standing alone makes the flower more vulnerable, delicate, and real. The same can be said about people; the people that do what they want instead of worrying about the people around them are often more beautiful than the people who try to fit in. Vulnerability shows courage and it brings confidence. This is something I have struggled with, but over the past couple of years I have been surrounded with people who have helped me find the truth in it. The person I am today is not even close to the person I used to pretend to be. I still have trouble walking through a crowd of people alone or getting up in front of the class, but I am not as dependent on what other people say about me as I used to be.  I realized the beauty in being comfortable and stopped trying so hard to be liked.  

 The two people in this picture mean the entire world to me. My older sister Brittney has been my best friend for a number of years. Growing up, I was always at practice and when I was home she was usually hanging out with her boyfriend. My freshman year was when that all changed. She was a senior and had to drive me to and from school everyday. Soon she was sharing her closet, food, and free time with me. She is the first person I go to if I need advice, a pep talk, or just a good laugh. Last November she moved out and for the first time I was an only child, that change has made me appreciate her even more than I already did. The other person is my dad. He has been my biggest supporter since day one. He knows exactly what to say whether its right before we get to a meet, on the drive home from a bad one, or if I am just really stressed out. He can make me smile on what seems to be the worst day of my life and I am incredibly lucky to have such a fantastic dad.