Magazine Blog Post

Grammer Post: Comma, Comma and Comma

Comma's can be very helpful or in my case they can be the cause of a red mark on your papers. I struggle with comma's most of the time. I thought I was getting proficient in the introduction comma but soon found I needed a refresher. I found this site at Purdue in their OWL and hope it helps you as well. They are other links when you get into this site so have fun cruising around.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/03/

America The Beautiful

D'Souza presents a different view of the Islamic world than what I am used to hearing. He states their intentions are to submit us to a central type of government. I always thought they were just trying to destroy us completely and not have any survivors. D'Souza also states that the Islamic community is a community that has been at war with democracy for many centuries and the battle with Russia, in the Cold War, just a detour for several years. These concepts were new to me. being informed that the Islamic world wants to rule us was aggravating to understand. The fundamentalists movement within the Muslim community is difficult to understand, especially when the US was helpful to them in fighting off the Russian invasion.

In the end of his piece D'Souza comments on the patriatism of the Americans. He states, "Only now are those Americans who grew up during the 1960s coming to appreciate the virtues - indeed the indispensability - of this older, sturdier culture of courage, nobility, and sacrifice. It is this culture that will protect the liberties of all Americans...."(778) Why did it take so long for the 1960 generation to come to an appreciation of a national identity? Specutlation might didcate that the inidividual was searching for more freedom and the government at this time was willing to allow for it. Especially with the "Warren Courts" controlling the Supreme Court. This idea of individualism helped the majority of the population forget about the national identity. It tool the events of 9/11 to bring the country the idea of unity one more time.

D'Sousa in his final paragraphs make the outward attack on the Muslim ideals. He compares the results of the American society with Muslim society and concludes that the person who is produced in the American sociey is , "confident, self-reliant, tolerant, genreous, future orientated.." What a bold statement to call the Muslim fundamentalist a "wretched , servile, falistic and intolerant huamn being..." If what he states is true about the Islamic Society of wanting to control every movement, then America will continue to unite to keep out freedom. If these people are so high and mighty, then why participate in the worst parts of our society of gambling, drinking, and strip clubs just before they commit the greatest act that will secure their eternal life? Maybe, just maybe, they are not as happy as they think they are living in their caves and hiding from the civilized world.

Grammer Corner: To Be Verbs

UUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGG! I am now officially a self-conscious writer. I was gaining confidence in my writing until I was enlightened with the horrible use of "to be" verbs. Just had to erase another sentence because of the stupid to be verbs. I completed some research on to be verbs and found several sites. I posted two of those sites one of which I believe helps me to understand that in some situations "to be" is ok as opposed "not to be."
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/passive.htm
http://www.unc.edu/~dcderosa/Draftworkshops/tobeverbs.html
I personally recommend the second site because it gives insight great insight to finding the dreaded "to be" verbs in your writings. This piece contains a great idea to save time when reviewing and editing your writing. Good luck!

I'm Black, You're White, Who's Innocent

"What great power than that of nonresponse, the power to let a small enemy sizzle in his own juices, to even feel a little sad at his frustration just as one is also complimented by it." (Steele, 532) This is great advice to anyone, even if it does not pertain to racism. This comment is a liberating piece of writing. Steele does a wonderful job of explaining racism and how it affects both people. I really enjoyed the fact that he laid no particular blame to a race. He holds both races responsible. What a refereshing look at such a subject. There were many things I agreed with him on. I enjoyed how he explained innocence and how it applies to both races. If one race is claiming innocence then more than likely they are experiencing some form of racism.

I really enjoyed the part where he explains how the people who were recently liberated in the civil rights era have not improved themselves. Steele has a way of looking at the facts and pointing them out in a logical fashion. I could see why in the introduction he is not liked by those of his race. How many people are willing to listen to the facts being interpretted to say that you have been given chances and yet you still refuse to follow up with them. He states the example of how so many of his people were dropping out of college. He also stated that this was much higher than that of the whites. He then realtes the idea that black on black crime is an all time high and the white's have not been around.

Steele then brings up the unthinkable. He states that the black people are concerned that they will lose their power of innocnce, thus losing the controlling power of guilt over the white man. I would have more empathy with a people that actually capitalize on all the benefits that government has to offer, than I am with a group of people that have won their independence and do nothing to live the dreams of great organizers and leaders before them. I have wondered what Dr. King would think if he was able to view the people of today compared with the circumstances he was presented with when he was alive. Would he lead the same pity party or would he be furthering the events to help all people be equal. I believe he would be willing to say that when he was alive there was never even dreaming of a black man for President. Steele is a brave individual for going against his race and the attitudes they have adopted. He may eventually be able to persuade the disbelievers that life is good and the oppotunities are endless.

Two Ways a Woman Can Ger Hurt

KIlbourne introduces several views on commercial ads. If I was to guess I would say she is against them. The old adage of "sex sells" is very prevalent in our society of people who need to be entertained at a moments notice and the ads have to appeal to everyone quickly. Does this objectify women and does this cause them danger? I would agree with both of her conclusions. Women are objectified in our culture. This places them in harms way because once a person, man or women, sees a particular gender in a certain light it is difficult at best to change this labeling. Kilboune introduces the idea that a woman's rapist was not punished because she wore certian underwear that told the all female jury that her morals were questionable. I come back to the idea that "NO means NO" and no person has the right to give up thier personal responsibility to control themselves when another rejects their advances.

This brings me to my next point. When are Americans going to accept responsibility for thier own actions. Too many times I read where the offender of a crime is suing the victims for compensation for getting hurt while attempting to break the law. What the hell! Why can't we be responsible enough to know that the ads that are placed are fiction. Have we become such a mindless society that we have to have others tell us what to wear or what to think? On that note if people are willing to believe a 30 second commercial as a standard for living, all we can hope to do is control everything that comes across the airwives. We must remove everything that will give the potential offender the opportunity or thought to commit the crime. Yeah sounds ridiculous to me to. This is wherre Kilbourne and I disagree.

You cannot expect to give a journalist freedom to print what they want based on their opinion and then not allow others to do the same. Have the ads gone to far? Yes they have, but they are working. That is the kick in the pants if you ask me. These advertisers would not use them unless they are working. So maybe we ought to teach the people to think for themselves and know that just because a woman wears clothes that are somewhat revealing she is not advertising for any person to violate her rights. Money talks. When the money stops talking the advertisers will start walking and attempting new ways to accomplish the age old feat of trying sell one product to many.

Killer Culture

From the Boy Scout Motto to the "bug" chasers was quite a stretch for me. I will give Kupelian the credit he deserves for being able to take his thoughts through so many problems of today while he is watching his son in a Scout meeting. Kupelian brought out several points that I thought were worth repeating. He drew comparisons of the cultures of today with the wicked cities of the Old Testament, Sodom and Gomorrah. In drawing these comparisons he showed how simple it is for cultures to fall so far so fast. He provides a solution with a specific goal of withdrawing our children from the public school sytem. Though I do not agree with his solution I am inclined to agree with him on theory of degradation of society.

When forming his comparisons with the Old Testament cities, he descibes them as being the ultimate place of societal degredation. In the 1950's movie, these two cities were made to embrace all that was horrible and thought to destroy cultures of decency and prosperity. I was caught off guard when Kupelian compared our culture to these two cultures. I was always under the impression that these two cities embraced even more worthless cultural habits than we might as Americans. Kupelian clearly showed that we are worse than those two cultures of their time. We have as a society been forced to accept this degradation as the ability of the people to express themselves. I have always felt that I might have been born several years too late because I differ so much with the mainstream of society. I do not accept that people will harm their bodies and chase disease all in the name of self expression, but I do acknowledge that this country was set up to allow for such ideals of expression.

Finally, his ideas of seperating our children from the public schools is ridiculous. The way to change a society is not to withdraw from it, but to live in it and represent your ideals to be appealing to others. I take for example the Polygamists. They have had little success in changing societies views of them by reclusing themselves from the mainstream public. They have taken this idea of seperation to an extreme, but what does Kupelian think will happen with the children when they have to particiapte in society to make money or got to college? He does bring up good ideas of placing our children in wholesome activities and being a strong part of their lives. This is good advice no matter what civilization a person lives in. It is more critical now that parents teach their children what is expected of them, because if we are not willing then their are many who are just waiting for the opportunity to do so.