MySpace: It’s Not a Babysitting Network, It’s a Social Network

In Kevin Alexander’s essay Myspace Not Responsible for Predators, Alexander writes that sexual predators will strike anywhere. The fact that MySpace is around for sexual predators to prey on people is merely a tool. Alexander believes that MySpace is not responsible for the predators because “there is no way to stop a determined predator, there is no way to stop a determined victim” (119). I see where he is coming from with this point because people are going to do what they want, despite the consequences. He uses an example of a lawsuit against the MySpace company because a 14 year old girl was raped by a guy she met on MySpace. The male allegedly lied about his age and convinced the girl to go on a date with him, where he raped her. Though this is a tragic event, I feel like it could have easily been avoided. Where were the girl’s parents while the communication (between the predator and the girl) was happening? And why in the world did her mother let her go out on a date with a guy she met on the internet? There have been internet sexual predators stories in the news since the internet was popular. Didn’t her parents watch the news at some point? Let’s think about all the places the mother went wrong here: she didn’t teach her daughter about the dangers of cyberspace, she didn’t monitor her daughter’s internet usage or divulged information, she allowed her sweet teenage daughter to physically meet an older male (he claimed to be 19 but he was much older), and she is now playing the blame game by putting the blame on this website which has no control over mentally disturbed predators (120). This most definitely sends the wrong message to both her daughter, and the rest of the nation by shoving off the responsibility of to rape to an inanimate object: a website. The girl’s mother sued the company for not having sufficient security checks on the people who use it and their personal information. However, I believe there are more inherent problems here. Alexander makes very valid points about the parenting in this situation (well, lack thereof). While Alexander’s claims that MySpace is by no means “a babysitting service” (119), I believe the whole problem could have been avoided had the girl’s mother been more involved in what was happening. Maybe the issue here is age limit. How young is TOO young for usage of MySpace? Obviously (though extremely sad and unfortunate) this teenage girl found out the hard way. We should all be a little more careful with the internet…




Rottenberg, Annette T., and Donna Haisty. Winchell. Elements of Argument: a Text and Reader. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. Print.

To Sip, or Not to Sip? That Is the Question!

What is in bean form, but can be ground and filtered with water to create a most scrumptious beverage? COFFEE OF COURSE! :) It is only one of the best beverages known to man. And also one of the oldest. There has been a big debate as to if coffee really is good or bad for us. I’m sure you have heard both sides, but most likely, the negative side. “Coffee gives you bad breath.” “Coffee stains your teeth.” “All that caffeine is bad for your system.” “Coffee stunts your growth.” Hmm…that’s an interesting one. Let me fill you in on a little secret: I have been drinking coffee since I can remember. My mom was (and is) an avid coffee-drinker and I would watch her make a pot of coffee every morning. Instead of tea parties, I would ask my mom to have coffee parties with me. I would use my tea set and put coffee in the big teapot, sugar in the sugar bowl, and cream in the smaller teapot. And I mustn’t forget the cookies! So, like I said I’ve been drinking coffee for many years (my mom says since I was about 2 years old). Here’s where the “stunting your growth part comes into play: I am 5 feet, 10 inches tall. I feel like that is pretty tall for a girl in general. If coffee supposedly stunts your growth, and if I have been drinking coffee since I was 2, how tall do you think I would be today?! Jolly Green Giant-size perhaps…or maybe just as large as Alice when she ate the cookies in Wonderland. And that’s pretty tall!

But what I am arguing here is the fact that coffee really is good for you…if you are drinking real coffee that is. None of that whipped frappeccino with extra whipped cream and sprinkles! Those things are close to 700 calories for crying out loud. I’m talking about the original hot beverage. Simply brewed cup o’ joe. There have been studies over the past 10 years that have helped support that coffee is indeed good for you. Larger quantities of coffee consumption have been especially helpful in diabetes prevention and heart disease (Bakalar). Also, the antioxidants in coffee help control cell damage in our bodies (Bakalar). So now I ask you, what is more important: perfect pearly whites, or steering clear of cardiovascular diseases?
I say, let the coffee brew! :)

Bakalar, Nicholas. "Coffee as a Health Drink? Studies Find Some Benefits." New York Times [New York City] 15 Aug. 2006. Database.

Is Love Really a Bouquet of Roses?

              Candle-lit dinner in a dimly lighted room. Fire roaring in the back ground, giving off just the right amount of heat. And soft jazz playing ever so sweetly. You see a couple clearly enjoying their evening. They eat a delicious meal and converse with each other over a great number of topics; finding more and more about one another. As time passes and more dates ensue, the couple begins to fall for each other. Fall in love that is. They genuinely love talking to the other person, and enjoy their company. They are each other’s best friend. It is clear over the next few months, or maybe even years, that they are extremely happy. Their love is almost infectious; anyone who knows them can feel their admiration and love for the other person. And what a wonderful feeling it is, don’t you agree?

PAUSE.

Let’s take a look here at this scene: Candle-lit dinner? Check. Corny music? Check. Cliché ambiance from a fire? Check. The couple sitting closely together and smiling at one another like school children? Check. Yep, sounds like the movies got a hold of this one. Every single cliché thing for a “love scene” is sitting right in front of you people!!! Quite a few tricks are being played here…the whole “romantic atmosphere” is just a show. Yes, love may actually start out like this…but it doesn’t always stay that way. What you have to understand is that “Love is not all roses.” It is terrifying actually. Full of hurt, frustration, heartache, testing of loyalty and trustworthiness, pain, and potential loss; along with the happiness, excitement, giddiness, and those little butterflies floating around in your stomachs. Yes, love can be grand and wonderful and every other positive adjective you may think of, but at the same time, it can be the exact opposite. I believe that love is a much more complex emotion that people think. They all say how great it is and whatnot, but you rarely see people talk about the love if it was lost. I mean, they say “it’s better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all.” Right? I believe there is great truth in this statement because love is all about giving everything to that other person; and being okay with it. Being okay with allowing yourself complete vulnerability, because you put your trust in them. Giving that other person the good, the bad; the ugly, the beautiful; the happy, the sad; the frustration, the excitement; the nervousness the serenity; the crazy, the sane. Everything. You allow that person to be your rock, and you are the same for them. No matter what is thrown at you, or no matter what hurdles you have to jump, or mountains you have to climb, its alright because you have each other.

It is for this reason that it, well, …sucks (for lack of a better word), when that love goes away for whatever explanation. That person that was your everything is now gone, and you are left with [what feels like] nothing. It is beyond difficult to come back from this state of mind. And that is because love is an ever-changing emotion. It is consistently inconsistent. But to me, that’s what makes it so beautiful. In all of the mess and jumbled up crap, there was (for at least a while) a great thing that you had hold of. It was in your grasp for some time and you held it closely with all your might. Dave Matthews put it beautifully in his song “Baby Blue” on his latest album Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King: the idea of love and loss. It is so clear in this song how much he loved this woman that his is singing about and you can hear the hurt in his voice as he sings to her. “Confess not quite / Ready to be left / Still I know I / Did my level best / You give you give / To this I can attest / You made me / You made me / You and me forever.” I believe he is saying that though the love was lost, it was great while it lasted. And even though they aren’t together anymore, he will love her. “Forever.”

The first video is just the album song (so you can hear the lyrics better).

The second video is live feed from September 23, 2009.

Both videos came from youtube.

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/dave_matthews_band/baby_blue.html    (lyrics)

Disney-Pixar Revolution

                 I’m sure almost everyone, from 2 years old to 85 years old, is familiar with animation. It used to be that you could just say one name, and people understood exactly what you were talking about. That word, you may ask? Well, Disney of course! The wonderful, magical world of Disney. Certainly one cannot forget the Disney classics Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, or Sleeping Beauty. Over the years, more and more great Disney movies have made their way into our living rooms, such as The Lion King, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Hercules, or Mulan. Nowadays however, there is a new combination that is revolutionizing the animation world once again. And that great combination is Disney-Pixar. The two greatest animation companies of writers, producers, and directors have come together to create an unstoppable force. And thank goodness for that!

                    Many people were starting to lose faith in Disney alone…saying that they have lost their touch perhaps. And though Pixar created good movies and short films on their own, they were nothing compared to the classics of Disney. And so, the two companies decided to join forces and change the world. And they did just that. I mean, how many people did you see in line for the third installment of the Toy Story phenomenon? Hundreds, I’m sure. And just how many of those people were little children? Probably not as many as there were teenagers or young adults, to be quite honest. That movie was 11 years in the making, so of course there was a great deal of hype about it. And the fact that our generation grew up on the first Toy Story only meant that the third one would be that much more special. (there was even a Facebook group created for the premiere of the movie entitled: “Get Out of My Way Little Kids! I’ve Been Waiting For Toy Story 3 For 11 Years!”) So obviously there is a great want for the Disney-Pixar movies. Yes, I admit that I was there for the premiere, proudly standing in line for hours waiting for my ticket. And yes, when Andy went off to college and left his toys with the little girl, I proudly wore those tears upon my cheek.
You see, what makes those movies that Disney-Pixar so wonderful is the fact that they are relatable. The third Toy Story was all about Andy growing up and going off to college, so he was too old to play with the toys. At the same time this movie hit the theatres, I had recently graduated high school, so I could relate to the feelings about college; wanting to grow up and move on, but being scared to death about it as well. Though we are not fish swimming through the ocean, I’m sure we can all relate to the movie Finding Nemo because it is all about family and doing anything to be there for them. Though we aren’t all old widowers, or a little boy scout, we can still relate to what both of them were feeling in the movie Up. Perseverance and friendship were key components in that movie.

                    Disney-Pixar has revolutionized the animation industry through their wonderful movies, and they make it very clear with all of the successes they have had. I know for a fact that my childhood, and even my 11-year old sister’s childhood would not be the same with out the conjunction of Disney-Pixar and the great movies they made for the world to see.

eTrade baby makes us laugh again

Super bowl commercials are most definitely a highlight of the new year. I’m sure there’s some people out there that watch the super bowl simply for the new commercials! One commercial that stood out for me in particular was the eTrade baby and cat. In general, the rhetorical situation for all commercials or ads is to simply sell a product. The particular product eTrade is trying to sell is the fact that they have good rates for buying investments of stock online. The super bowl audience is most likely sports fans, families, and party people. However, the audience for this commercial is people planning to invest in stocks, but wish to do it online. The context for this commercial is light-hearted and humorous because the super bowl, for the most part, is not a serious matter. The premise of super bowl is having a good time with friends and family, and being able to laugh and smile about the good things. This is a very important aspect for the advertisers to take into consideration because light-hearted commercials make people want to watch it. The humor concept is more powerful because it makes people want to watch and listen. Therefore, the people will watch the baby give advice about the eTrade online products. It was very smart for the writers of the commercial to use a baby again to depict the information about eTrade because babies are almost always considered cute and adorable. These aspects make the public stop to watch the baby “talk.” Also, the eTrade baby is known for saying humorous things, so that will make the people want to watch it. This time however, there is a cat in the commercial; a cute cat at that! What makes this commercial even funnier is the fact that the cat keeps interrupting the eTrade baby with its sneezes. For some reason, people seem to laugh at the silly things cats do. It must be a human thing to laugh when animals do things that we find human (such as sneezing). Don’t get me wrong, I laughed at the commercial too! I love the eTrade baby because the commercials are always entertaining. I realized however that I didn’t really realize what the eTrade baby was pressing to sell until I looked up what eTrade actually was. If an advertisement has either animals or babies in it, people will stop to listen because they are aesthetically pleasing. This commercial also appeals to people’s needs in Maslow’s heiarchy of needs in the esteem needs portion because buying stocks can lead to power and wealth. There was little text in this commercial, but text wasn’t needed because this was a complete visual ad. I really enjoyed this commercial!

Princess Protection Program?

                     Every involved parent does it. Treating their little girl “like a princess.” But I ask you, is that a good idea in the long run? Sure, its totally cute to be able to get your little girl (or niece, or sister, or cousin, whatever the relation) a princess outfit because we all know how much they love to play dress-up. The pink dress or tutu, the sparkling tiara or crown, the bejeweled scepter, and the plastic “high heels” are all part of the package. Yes, they make the little girl “feel pretty” but is it only hurting her in the long run. I mean, if you get her all of those things, once she puts that costume on, she becomes that character: a princess. So she begins to demand things. And when you ask why she says “because I’M the princess.” She thinks that she can get whatever she wants because she feels powerful. That’s all the costume represents: power. Because once she puts that costume on, she personifies the “princess” that you allow her to be. She is in power; not the parent(s). Even after she takes the costume off she starts to demand things more and more because it gives her power; which makes her feel good. Because you treated her like a princess when she had the costume on, she wanted to get that same feeling even when it was nowhere in sight. And so, the trend begins: she demands and wines and the parent caves because they “just want their little princess to be happy.” See, that’s another place where the parent goes wrong: calling her a “princess” in front of her. That only solidifies it more in their tiny little-girl brains, here people! So they start to believe that they truly are princesses and that they always get what they want.

Ten years later.

              They are young adults now and are just beginning to go into the real world. They have had the world handed to them on a silver platter their entire lives because they were their parents’ “little princess.” After hearing nothing but “Yes” their entire lives, all the sudden, they are thrown into a world of “No’s.” And all too soon the Rolling Stones song resounds in their heads (No, you can’t always get what you want.) These girls are now distraught and completely heartbroken because they don’t know what “No” feels like. All because their parents spoiled them as children. This “little princess” is finally finding out what it feels like to be a pauper in the real world. But could it be true that they are feeling it more harshly because they were never taught how to accept defeat and overcome it?


                         Now by NO means am I saying that little girls shouldn’t be spoiled now and then. (Because I think everyone should; but in moderation). All I am saying is that we should be careful as to how the little girls are being treated nowadays because we don’t want to set them up for failure in their futures. We want them to be strong, don’t we? Strong doesn’t always mean getting whatever they want at their beck-and-call. We should just be cautious of how the girls are treated because they are so impressionable. I could only hope that my little girl would grow up to be strong and independent; not frail and demanding of whatever she wants. This may make you think twice about how you treat your daughters, hmm?

X-rays that save our lives

On the topic of airport security using new age scanners, Thomas Frank claims that they are a great way to make the airports more secure. In contrast, Joe Sharkey believes that it is a huge invasion of privacy for screeners to be able to see through our clothes. However, through much consideration, I believe that the backscatter X-rays would be a good addition to the security of the airport. As I was reading the two different articles about the backscatter X-rays, I found myself being swayed in both directions. While reading the first article by Thomas Frank I thought to myself, “Yeah, this is a good thing. It’ll make the airports more secure. And it doesn’t sound like the scans show great detail.” However, when I read the second article by Joe Sharkey I felt appalled and disgusted at the aspect. Even his choice of article title was eye-catching: “Airport Screeners Could See X-rated X-rays.” That title most definitely caught my attention. I feel like both authors are good at swaying the audience to think what their opinions are. Basically good at manipulating the reader into thinking the same things. However, the people who can make a distinction between the two spectrums and find their own voice are the ones who can make a difference. As I really sat there and though about it though, I came to the conclusion that the scans would be best for security. I am not a totally modest person though, so that could be one reason that I agree. Also, if the scan helps the security personnel nab the bad guys who are trying to blow up a plane that I am riding, I think I could handle a few second-scan that could potentially save my life. Let’s think about this people, showing your body on an X-ray that only the security scanner may see is much better than having to call your loved ones for the last time because your plane has been hijacked. It is most definitely give and take, but for the betterment of your life.