Memorial Day

I was reading this article about Memorial Day to get an idea of what kind of ceremonies would be taking place today, because I've never really done anything special in the recent years because I'm pretty sure finals have fallen around this time every year. President Obama will not be at Arlington National Cemetery's wreath-laying ceremony. Vice President Biden will be taking his place and Obama will be attending a similar ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery outside of Chicago.

Apparently, it's a big deal that Obama is not going to be in Virginia and is here today. This reminds me of how some find it odd that Obama doesn't say "I love America!" in every one of his speeches. All Major League Baseball games will stop at 3 pm, the National Moment of Remembrance as deemed by Congress, to remember our fallen troops. The moment was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying themselves on Memorial Day. The baseball players will also be wearing hats with stars and stripes.

It seems to me that Memorial Day is kind of artificially constructed. Is this the only way you can display your patriotism to your country? Is Obama preferring some troops over the other by not being at Arlington today?

At the end of the article, it says that what most kids know about Memorial Day is that it's the day when the pools open. Perhaps Congress and politicians are more concerned with the appearance of the day than the education that comes along with it.

For example, I didn't even know that seven CIA personnel were killed in December in a suicide attack in Afghanistan. They will be honored at Arlington today.

How many of you will stop whatever you're doing at 3 pm? How many of you have done something over the years to honor the fallen (not bbqs)?

I would be very interested to know. Post please!

"Iran makes a KILLING every day we wait"

The American Values Network has recently launched a new set of advertisements on the sides of buses that read "Iran makes a KILLING every day we wait" with a picture of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's face and hand in obesiance. Next to the words, there is a barrel of oil and American money.

The American Values Network is attempting to promote the end of oil dependence in Iran and clean energy legislation. However, Iranian-American groups are offended by the attacks because they feel that the ads are representing an ulterior motive - some think they are too provocative and promote war against Iran.

We have been working with the idea that word choice is the most powerful tool in making your argument since our Trivial Pursuits activity at the beginning of the year. This is why this article interested me so much. Eric Sapp, the creator of the ads, responded to the requests to remove the adds in a variety of quite frankly, contradictory ways.

To me saying that "Every day the Senate waits to pass clean energy legislation, Iran makes $100,000,000.00 more on the global oil market." does not say "Hey, we love the Earth." Partly because it associates Iran with its leader and only its leader, and our dependence of oil is not linked only to Iran. To me, it goes more along the lines of what Sapp later said, "[Iran] are clearly a threat. They're responsible for the bullets and bombs that kill our troops." Sapp also mentions that what they are doing is the "right" and "patriotic" thing and that Iran is one of our "enemies".

It seems as though this was ineffective ad as it tackled more than one issue, and then tried to get away with it. On the AVN website, their belief is that they should "actively participate in building up the American family and community values that have always been at the core of our successful efforts to create a “more perfect union.”' Successfol efforts? I'm not really sure if this ad campaign is considered successful considering the opposition and the unclear message it presents. What do you think?

There is a heavy link to the American Value Network's beliefs and Scripture. They say, "Our failure to answer the calling to be good stewards of God’s creation has consequences." I promote clean energy legislation no matter where it came from but I think that much of these "global" initiatives are being promoted in order to make the lives of Americans easier: "As food, water, and land become scarce due to climate change, millions of people here at home and globally are suffering and American security is endangered by the the threat of political destabilization in regions around the world."

This website reminds me eerily of the American Tea Party one because the language is so caught up in preserving the values of our founding fathers that I don't know quite what they believe in. In this case, I don't know whether the environment or foreign policy is being discussed.

What do you think about the word choice? What was the American Values Network trying to get at?

"An American Nightmare"

I was browsing around the CNN website and found a video of an NYU graduate, Ryan Durosky, who is nearly 300,000 dollars in debt after deciding to attend The New York University instead of going to a school that offered him a scholarship.



At the time, the decision made sense to him because of the amount of doors that could be opened after gaining a business degree at a prestigious school such as NYU. But, now Ryan calls his debt "depressing" as he was laid off almost immediately after business school due to the current economic crisis and must commute two hours a day to get to and from his job. Kurt Andersen, the author of the article we read in class today, titled "The End of Excess: Why This Crisis is Good for America" claims that the United States has "required a couple of centuries for the most extravagant version of the American Dream to take hold: starting with the California Gold Rush in 1849" and that we have been "in favor of the fantastic idea that anybody, given enough luck and liberty, can make a fortune overnight." At the beginning of the video, Ryan says he went to NYU for the opportunity and for the success he would find in business in Manhattan. At the end of the video, Ryan states that he wishes he could actually be living the American Dream - having a house, getting married, and having kids.

There are two conflicting opinions regarding the essence of the American Dream present. Granted, there are probably millions of interpretations. But to me, it boils down to money and happiness. Physical, tangible success and emotional and mental success. At what point will our generation be subject to compromising one of the two?

The two views made me wonder, when does the American Dream start to change? Only when things start to go wrong? Andersen argues that "Of course, when addicts finally quit, it feels awful for a while, and that's where we are now". It seems to me that Andersen argues that we should be happy we're off this drug and look for a new, advanced, equally as powerful one.

Are the cycles present in the article plain fact or an excuse to be equally as destructive as we have been, but this time under the umbrella of past withdrawal?

So many questions. Post please!

Junior Theme: The Home Stretch

Well, I haven't blogged for a really long time. I think the last time I did was over spring break because I was so excited about all of my research. I am still excited about all of my research, but to be honest, I have been scared out of my mind about junior theme. I am very glad I chose a topic that I am very interested in, but I have found that forming my claims was the hardest part of junior theme. My topic is U.S. intervention on genocide, and though I found so much information on the reports of killings, humanitarian aid, foreign policy conflicts, counter-terrorism vs. counter-genocide, and Holocaust awareness, etc., etc., I still could not come up with a sort of thesis type answer for why the United States has not intervened other than it did not want to. Today, I talked with Mr. Bolos and he told me to find excuses has used as to why the U.S. hasn't intervened, and so I'm doing that. I'm glad I took more of a why it doesn't intervene vs. why it does stance because I think it allows me to make my argument stronger, bolder, and more aggressive, something that Clay Shirky and Mr. Bolos encourage in the young female population. Overall, I think that despite the recent increase in stress levels (in not only me, but my family?), junior theme has actually taught me so much. I may not be the biggest fan of researching, but the learning throughout this entire experience was invaluable, as it encourages me to push myself and others to really advocate for genocide prevention and intervention. Also, it's really hard to read about genocide for hours on end and not be really happy about your life. It has certainly made junior theme an easier process.

Good night and good luck, friendos.

^...who said that again?