Propaganda

  My Saturday morning started just like any other. I woke up, ate, and prepared for the day. However, when I checked my news feed on Facebook, I saw a curious video that one of my friends posted. The video in question was on the topic of Israel's foreign policy towards Iran. The video painted Israel as a war mongering nation that was trying to provoke Iran. The video was an interesting watch, until about five minutes of research debunked most of the claims in said video.
    The speaker in the video was the notorious former Louisiana representative, David Duke. Duke's career can be summarized by most as nothing but racism (He supports voluntary segregation and is an ex KKK member) and anti-semitism. Duke is an individual who has continuously painted Jews as the main crux of all of society's problems, a philosophy that got him in arrested in the Czech Republic on charges of being a nazi apologist. It is difficult when watching the video "Israel is a Threat to America" if Duke is merely an ignorant old man or an absolute genius in the art of propaganda. In the video, Duke stated that Iran has never once launched a terrorist attack on Israel or America, conveniently forgetting key events such as the Seven days War and the Iranian hostage crisis. While I do not enjoy taking sides, I merely have to reiterate that Iran, like many nations, despises the United States, and one can easily find footage of Iranian civilians holding up banners that read, "Death to the US".
    I am not an ardent supporter of the Israel or Palestine. I find that both sides have committed far too many atrocities towards one another for a side to be taken. However, I find it silly that Mr. Duke loves to act like such atrocities were not provoked on both ends. The true purpose of Duke's agenda can be best understood when he not only implies that he is a 9/11 "truther", that Israel indirectly had a hand in the tragedy, but that Sadam Hussein was framed as "The next Hitler" merely for his support of Palestine, which was not the case in the slightest. As stated, this video is either embarrassing ignorance, or brilliant hate propaganda. Take your pick.

Is humanity inherently evil?

    Thomas Hobbes had a philosophy that man was inherently evil and governments existed to protect man from itself. The existence of movies, such as "The Purge", in recent years shows that this idea is far from dead. This belief is easy to maintain when one reads the news and finds articles detailing the absolute worst that mankind has to offer. Admittedly, I have sometimes wondered what the true ratio of decent human beings to murderers actually is. As a small child, my mother would always assure me that the ratio was tipped more in the favor of those that were good. However, in my early teenage years, I started to have my doubts. When I would read about the atrocities committed in the Middle East by both extremists and the occasional traumatized soldier, I lost hope in my mother's words.
     Of course, I do not deny the good of man as a whole. I believe that absolutist terms are childish. After all, if man was inherently evil, as Hobbes believed, I do not believe that an institution such as the government would be able to stop mankind from destroying itself. After all, what is it that separates members of a government from civilians? If man is inherently evil, should it not be the case that governments, which are run by humans, are inherently evil as well?
    It is important to not let the media distort the image of humanity. As humans, we are simply attracted to more negative news stories. This can be attributed to the average individual having to life in a constant rut, looking for any form of change, with negative change garnering more of an emotional response.This is why the media profits off of stories involving murder, assault, and/or theft. Of course, we cannot change human nature.

The sensitivity of society

     In modern society, there is an ever present question: Have we become too sensitive? Today, we had a discussion in Government class that posed this question. Several different examples were used in the context of making jokes in poor taste, such as 9/11, the holocaust, and even the Trail of Tears. My answer in regards to the question of when such jokes are acceptable was a simple: "If nobody is left alive to be offended, why should it matter?" If only our society was that simple.
     I have noticed a recurring trend with humans in general. The ones who are offended the most by a joke are ironically the ones that are not the target of said joke. The sign fiasco at MacAdory is a prime example. The sign should have only been offensive to those of Native American ancestry, yet the Native American community had the most mellow reaction to the sign itself. Another case similar in terms of response would be the release of the video game, Resident Evil 5, in 2009, which, before its release, was accused of being racist, primarily by caucasians, just because it was a zombie game that took place in Africa. This accusation became even sillier when the game was released, as protestors would soon be reminded that not all citizens of Africa are black.
    Why is this an issue? My theory is that humans love to jump at any chance to involve themselves in anything where they can voice their thoughts, even if their thoughts are not required. I would compare this to numerous high school accounts I have witnessed where individuals have come to another's defense when they are needed the least. Sensitivity in itself, is appropriate, but when it breeds rigidity, that is where a line has to be drawn.

The question of Pope Francias

     Prior to attending Hoover High School, I was enrolled in the Catholic school system from 2006 to 2013. My time in private schools leads to many elaborate stories, most of which are irrelevant to this blog. However, the one story that does tie in to this blog would be my experience with the "tolerance" of my theology teachers. Hellfire and damnation were constantly preached concerning the subject of homosexuals and atheists, despite one of the tenants of Christianity being, "Judge not, lest thee be judged." I do not hold ill will towards the Catholic Church itself for this hypocrisy, but rather the minds of the teachers. However, perhaps the minds of my former teachers will eventually be opened by the eccentric views of Pope Francis.
      Pope Francis is certainly an eccentric figure, in the sense that he seems to focus more on the judge not factor of Christianity than previous popes. Perhaps the best manner of describing his views of atheists and homosexuals would be "aloof". Throughout my six and a half years in private school, even when my faith was actually strong, I longed for my teachers to actually admit that it is not their place to judge what someone else's place will be. After all, we are all merely humans, not divine beings.
     Of course, this is controversial in the ranks of the church. I do not expect change to come quickly, but hopefully, in my lifetime, the eyes of many will be opened. I suppose I can only hope.

The death of Nelson Mandela

     Today, we have lost an important figure in South African history. Nelson Mandela, the first black South African president whose term lasted from 1994 to 1999, died today at the age of 95. It was through him that apartheid, poverty, and inequality in South Africa were challenged. His 27 years of imprisonment before eventually overcoming said adversity and bringing about change in South Africa I find to be extremely inspirational as exemplified by one of his many incredible quotes: "Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." This quote can be applied to each and every one of us. In our lives, we all experience failure. However, we experience failure for one crucial reason: So we how to achieve actual success.This was a man who had every reason to become a bitter shell in the face of such hopelessness that only the harsh realities of challenging an oppressive system can bring about. However, he refused to gaze into the abyss, and helped bring about change in South Africa. One can only hope that the world can find some way to fill the void this man left behind.

The question of McAdory

Admittedly, I am late in discussing this story but I still feel the need to comment on it. I will first explain what actually happened to those of my readers that have not checked the national news. Last Friday, McAdory High School's football team played against Pinson Valley High School, a team that has a Native American as its mascot. Before the game, McAdory's students held up an offensive sign that said, "Hey Indians, get ready to leave in a Trail of Tears Round 2." The cheerleading coach, who normally monitors these signs, was on maternity leave at the time of this disaster. Obviously, this shows a lack of class on the part of the cheerleaders who made this insensitive sign, but what has followed this incident might be blowing things out of proportion. I agree that complaints needed to be brought forth, especially by those in the Native American community. However, McAdory has actually received threats for this one banner. My best friend, who goes to McAdory, informed me of an online statement that, paraphrased, stated: "It would certainly be nice if somebody shot up that school."

I will not deny that this sign has racist connotations. However, how are we to move forward as a society if our immediate response to racism is always to issue death threats? I remember, two years ago, there were these two girls on Youtube that were kicked out of school for uploading a video that repeatedly insulted the black community. Afterwards, the families of these two girls kept receiving anonymous death threats for their daughters' actions. In my opinion, responses like these make it hard to sympathize for those that are offended.

"Obama announces change to address health insurance cancellations"

   President Barack recently had to make adjustments for his health care law. Whilst giving a speech, Obama exposed the flaws with his previous health care law as well as his involvement with said flaws. Obama also recently contradicted his promise that people could keep their insurance plans. Afterwards, Polls were taken and they showed that disapproval for the Affordable Care Act has risen from 47 to 55 percent. The polls also displayed that Obama's approval rating has dropped into the high 30s and low 40s.
   It is times like these where one begins to wonder if the President is just an incompetent figurehead or an incredible liar. Obama's history of not keeping his promises has repeatedly called his own loyalties into question. Does Obama truly have the best interest of the American in mind, or is he just telling the Democratic voters what they want to hear? Only time will reveal the true answer to this question.