Blog #6 - Terrorism: A Numbing Epidemic

In modern society, hearing about the heartless killings happening all around the world is not an uncommon occurrence. Unfortunately, we've grown accustomed to these acts of terrorism and hatred. Although it is undeniable that there is a deep desire for a global community that can and will support their neighbors, that doesn't mean we have achieved that community. It seems brutal, but it is becoming more and more obvious that we only care about those near to us. For example, on November 13, 2015, Paris was attacked and 130 people were sadly killed. America and many other first world countries leapt to France's side almost instantly. This, of course, is very kind and generous. But, what many people don't know, is there has been at least 6 attacks in Turkey since the summer of 2015. The attacks in Ankara, Turkey, have been some of the most devastating, yet hardly anyone has shown any sympathy or tried to reach out a hand to those suffering across the globe. 

In my opinion, terrorism is something that is looked over much too often. I hate to think that our sympathy is not deep enough to feel for those everywhere, not just those who are convenient to us. Not only this, but I have noticed a common accusation directed towards Muslims or anyone of middle-eastern decent. People seem to think that all Muslims are responsible for the awful things happening around the world. This thought is so prominent that a young refugee in Greece felt like the recent attacks in Brussels were his fault. He wrote a sign saying, "Sorry for Brussels," and it somehow ended up getting onto social media for all to see. The fact that young children especially have been exposed to such a hatred for their culture is absolutely absurd to me. Terrorism has no religion. We spend too much time pointing fingers at others and not dealing with the problem at hand. What about the victims in Turkey? How can we help them? We need to think about how we can aid those in Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Syria, Yemen, and all the other overlooked countries. 

This relates to class because we are talking about civil liberties and civil rights. Racial discrimination like this is exactly what the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was created for. We also spoke about the Patriot Act which increased federal powers to investigate terrorist activities. This act was used a lot recently to search for terrorists and find out their plans. 

Blog #5 - Trump Dividing Republican Party?

As Super Tuesday rolls around, citizens of the U.S. brace themselves to see who could possibly be the nominees for each party. It has been predicted that Republican front runner Donald Trump will dominate the competition with ease. Although the businessman has had a fairly easy time winning over the hearts of most Americans, politicians are starting to show some discomfort in the idea of Trump becoming President. A New York Republican, Peter King, thought Trump could potentially bring new voters into the Republican party. But, after a slew of controversial comments, King said, “he's going to put a scar on the party that we're not going to recover from for a long time." Others are worried about the unity of the party being destroyed by Trump. Sen. John Cornyn, No. 2 head of the GOP, said, “I think he certainly is a controversial figure -- I think we need someone who can unify the party, as opposed to divide the party." Now that the idea of Donald Trump becoming President isn’t just a proposal anymore, politicians are getting brutal wake up calls.

It is surprising to me that the general election is no more than 9 months away. Apparently, this realization has hit a lot of other people pretty abruptly. Now, politicians are starting to think about the candidates as colleagues and not just peers. This will definitely affect their opinions and therefore the public’s opinions as well. I think we might see a little shift in the polls/primaries in the next few weeks. It is kind of scary to think that the next few primaries will almost certainly decide who our presidential nominees are. I cannot say whether or not these shifts will be significant but there will most likely be some sort of change in the majority opinion.

This relates to class because we are discussing the roles of media in politics. In this scenario, the news has been playing the “watchdog” and keeping an eye on the front runners of the race like Donald Trump. Since there has been noticeable tension between politicians as the election progresses, popular news channels have also been playing the “agenda setter” and have been influencing what people think about Donald Trump by labeling him as a divider.