Thursday, January 24, 2008

My Paper

Idea #1:
Stem Cell Research: Could be very useful to medicine if those damn religious freaks werent so uptight about it.

Idea #2:
Why most major media outlest are racist?
Detroit has a murder rate of over 300 deaths a year but this is not talked about on any major news sources but one a white cheerleader disappears in Aruba, its the biggest news story of the year.

Idea #3:
Prescription drugs
Are all the drugs were prescribing todays kids helping them or making them worse off?
Thesis:
There are many reasons why kids today have less academic integrity but instead of pointing fingers its more important to see how we can fix this.

Topic 1:
Cheating has been around for ever but in recent years there has been a more widespread cheating epidemic plaguing todays schools.

Topic 2:
However, technology cannot be held completely to blame, as todays parent install a fear of failling in their kids that makes them want to succed at any cost.

Topic 3:
The penalties of being caught cheating, though very severe, do not persuade kids to stop cheating as they feel everybody does it and its very hard to be caught.

Topic 4:
In order to learn from cheating, schools must have strict penalties for cheating making sure that if a students get caught once, he wont cheat again.

Conclusion:
Cheating may have always been around but as time has gone on are integrity has seem to drop. Maybe its just todays societies moral values but this epidemic can be stopped.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Test...

One...Two....

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Gripping at his desk and hollering loudly like some Frankenstenian creation with the average man appeal of Walter Cronkite and the sardonic wit of George Carlin, "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart is unlike any other newsman and/or newswoman. Fresh off his break due to the writers strike, you see a rested but still pissed off Stewart ready to supply college campuses across the nation with there steady supply of news that speaks to them and he does not dissapoint. In the first 5 minutes of his broadcast he has already described a book on liberal fascism as "fucking awesome" and has managed to make a wisecrack about every presidential canidate running in the primaries before tearing apart the coverage of the primaries handled by the major news outlets. The so-callled "Most Trusted Name in Fake News", Stewart himself has became what you can call the spokesperson for the genre of fake news. The most easily distingushable figure in this burgeoning genre, Stewart speaks to a whole generation who grow up with the ironic humor that the 90's was so famous for (that ironic humor is pretty much due to The Simpsons but thats a different essay for a different day). What Stewart does may be described as fake news but dont let that fool you. Stewart and other fake news sources are some of the only people telling it like it is and not afraid to point out the bullshit so abundant in todays politicians and reporters.

If you ask most people when did the genre of "fake news" first come about, they would probaly tell you after 9/11 when "The Daily Show" reached its widest audience it has seen. The news was so dark at the time it was refreshing to see Stewart tellt he news in his caring, crude but still classy way. But thats not necessarily when it came about and the fake news genre has been aroud for a while. "The Daily Show"s main influence goes back 30 years ago when Chevy Chase said those famous words "Im Chevy Chase and Your Not" on Weekend Update, a news segment on the foundation of todays comedy, "Saturday Night Live". Weekend Update could be seen as reaction to the coverage of the news during the Vietnam conflict. So "The Daily Show" may not be the originator of fake news but it was the refiner of that style. It turned a weekly five minute sketch into a half hour long nightly show. But dont let the word fake throw you off with programs like "The Daily Show" and "Weekend Update" they do only report on real news story, they just do it humorous and screwball ways. Sometimes they may take a quote out of context or stage scenes in interviews or news segments. But for the most part they tell the truth which is rare in todays world, they happen to tell you the truth in humorous ways.

Stewart is now on a rant, he just played an advertisement for CNN's debate between Hillary and Obama. The ad is made out to make the debate look like some heaveyweight boxing match with a narrator straight out of an action movie trailer. "This Sunday only, watch the greatest matchup since Foreman vs. Ali or Kennedy vs. Nixon, as Barrack the Rock takes on Hillary "The Impeacher" Clinton. All bets are off in what will only be a bloodbath." Thats not what the narrator said but you wouldnt be surprised if he did. But anyways, Stewart is having a field day shredding this add apart, posing the question how is his style of news any less real than Broadcasts that use special effects, sound effects and exagerations. Thats the fundamental flaw in todays news that make this fake news so refreshing. The voice of today news is so distant from the average man, it has pretty much become a voice for big business and politicians. So many anchors rely on graphics and special effects and how many stories tha can fit in instead of hard hittng facts and giving you the stories that affect you. You can watch whole days of news and barely have an understanding of what you just saw because instead of taking their time telling you the details of the story, their just throwing ten stories per minute at you trying to gloss it all over with glitzy special effects. They aim for entertainment value just as much as Stewart but try to act like there the real source for news. These so called real news anchors are completley uncritical or completly biased against one party. Stewart is biased and critical against everyone which is what we need in this age.

Fake news is such a negative name for programs like "The Daily Show', its more like satirical news or postmodern news. Stewart with The Daily Show is able to dissect what it is to means to be a news show, be original and creative, still remain funny while at the time still gives you something to think about and tells what is happening in our world. Stewart is speaking to all of us that have become disenfranchised with both republicans and democrats as they move farther apart. He speaks to all of us outsiders who need someone to speak the truth and call out the bullshit spewed from every politician. He does all of this while still making you laugh until it hurts.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

My Thesis Is...

1. Road Rage is the most heinous danger facing todays drivers and has cost the lives of hundreds
2. The violence found in the films of Walt Disney are harming todays children.
3. Ants are one of the most diverse species of insect and can adapt to living anywhere in the world.
4. The rescuing of an abused animal is one of the most gratifying thing you can do as seen in the eyes of the rescued animal.
5. There are many reason why droughts occur and depend on variety of conditions.
6. The Shing, written by author Stephen King, is one of the pinnacles in modern horror novels.
7. The Titanic's sinking in the Atlantic is one of the worst disaster that stretch water has ever seen.
8. Drug addiction in America is a unstoppable problem.
9. Saving Private Ryan is one of the most realistic portrayals of WWII ever made.
10. Rabbits make horrible pets due to various reasons.
11. Thesis Statement
12. Beauty pageants are one of the most vain creations by man.
13. School uniforms are necessary in turning our nations kids into mindless drones.
14. William Shakespeare is still remembered due to his uncomparable witing and endless complexity.
15. Thesis Statement