14 year-old professional Phenom

With The Masters golf tournament starting up yesterday continuing through Tiger Woods has not seemed to be the major headline of the tournament, rather 14 year old golfer from China Guan Tianlang makes history as the youngest player to ever compete in a major golf tournament. Tianlang was the winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship which helped put him in this position to be able to compete with the best players in the world in this tournament. To even think about a kid playing in this tournament at my age of 18 is crazy, but the fact that this kid is in eight grade and has not even experienced high school is unbelievable that he is competing a such a high level. On top of being the youngest to ever compete in this golf tournament, he amazed many viewers yesterday as he played unbelievable on his first day in the match shooting a 73 just one over par putting himself in place to qualify to making the cut. He has already surpassed all the expectations on the first day by playing this well, so if he makes the cut that would be a remarkable accomplishment. He only weighs about 130 pounds and he is able to crush the ball with his drives putting him in position for success which is so impressive. I will continue to watch this tournament over the weekend and no matter how Guan does in the rest of the tournament he will still be the headline story. I am excited to see where this kids future goes starting at such a young age and from this start he might go down as one of the best golfers of all-time if he can keep up the work and live up to his current hype.

 

Hidden Biases

After looking over my results from this test it showed that I have a moderate preference for European Americans compared to African Americans. When looking at this data I am not very surprised by the outcome because in today’s society whites are more associated with good characteristics and blacks with bad ones so I think it was first nature for me to react in this way even though I feel that I do not have any bias towards one race over the other. Dating back to the days of slavery African Americans were always seen in a negative aspect and given the labels are lesser human beings associated with bad reputations. Now that slavery is over there are still the stereotypes for blacks that they are involved in gangs and crime laying a horrible image on their culture. I feel like this test cannot be an accurate interpretation of bias just by this game being played by everyone as it seems like most people will get similar results whether they have racist opinions or are neutral like I am.

When analyzing this page covering the stereotypes and prejudices that occur around the world every day, people have to understand that to have these stereotypes are much different than discriminating against others. People might have some opinions about race just because of how people are perceived in society, but there is a huge difference when people actually express their beliefs by singling out other races. This discrimination is all derived from the prejudices and stereotypes and are the building blocks that make people act on their opinions and discriminate against certain culture groups. As seen in the media people always try to exaggerate the truth and that is what starts all these stereotypes, prejudices, and biases, so after reading this page I have realized that the mass media is a vital piece to the reasoning of all these reputations for certain races. Hidden biases can make an impact on how I act because though I may not believe I have these biases, based on how things are perceived in the media and in society I naturally have these opinions and can force me to act in certain ways when being around these groups of people.

After taking this test from Harvard University it has given me insight to the reasons people are still so segregated today just like it was shown in the film “I Sit Where I Want”. In this film many students tried creating a movement to desegregate the seating arrangements in the lunchroom so that there were a variety of races sitting with each other instead of all the groups at the lunch table being separated by their race. The information I learned today has helped me discover why these people where not really able to make a change to who they sit with due to the hidden biases that everyone has. Since all the races where sitting with each other every year at lunch they felt more comfortable being around their race and since they didn’t know much about other races because of stereotypes they had if scared them away from trying to open up their horizons and interact with the other races. I think people need to try and block out all the stereotypes they have towards certain races and cultures and give them a chance because if you open up your opportunities and try to learn more about other cultures it can help eliminate the negative hidden biases and help to meet more people, creating a larger range of friends

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Lil' Wayne in Coma

On Friday March 15th the news came out the YMCMB rapper Lil' Wayne was found in a hospital in critical condition after he suffered a serious seizure that caused him to be in a coma. This story was completely blown up all over the media as TMZ reported that Wayne was in a near death situation and this news erupted all over the social media of Twitter and Facebook.  Dr. Michael Privitera, a professor and the director of the Epilepsy Center at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute explained that these seizures could happened for various reasons. In Wayne's case it was believed that this occurred due to the overdose of strong prescription drugs like codeine, in which Wayne is notorious for abusing. Wayne has had previous incidents of a seizures in the past, but nothing serious has happened from them like the one from this weekend. YMCMB President Mack Maine was very angered with the media coverage of this story when it was reported his fellow rap artist was near death as the media blew up the story and exaggerated some of the facts. The prescription drug of codeine cough syrup has been popular in the rap industry as one of the drugs that has been abused and there have been concrete evidence of this drug having an extreme negative effect on the body as former rapper Pimp C and DJ Screw both died from the overdose of this drug. The main problem here is that these rappers know the negative affects of this drug such as seizures that could lead to death as it has with the prime examples of former rappers. If this incident to Wayne doesn't stop him from abusing this drug, then I don't know what will because as he was reported to be in a coma and near death it should show him the signs that death could be upon him if he continues this path. Hopefully this story will make a difference to some of the drug abusing that is going around the world and make a stop to people torturing their bodies like this.

Sides of Greek Life

It was very interesting seeing the video in class about the young kid who passed away at college due to alcohol poisoning where he drank way too much for his body to handle when being part of this frat life. After watching this video of all the horrible things that go in Greek life whether it is the hazing or drinking people might question why anybody would want to join a frat. These people are just completely ignorant because from seeing one video about all the negative aspects of joining a frat do not nearly compare to the thousands of different frats around the country. There are so many parts to joining a frat that bring positive aspects to yourself and the ones around you. I definitely plan on joining a frat when I go to college because I believe it is a huge part of the social life. Though I might have to go through some hazing which will be bad for the time being I know that it will not be nearly as brutal as the things described in the Dartmouth article, or anything near that. Joining a frat house is always given the stereotypical of all being about partying and getting drunk with your friends in college. In reality, this is not nearly what the Greek life is all about as there are so many other positive aspects to it that some people may not realize until they join a frat and nobody is necessarily going to make you drink. For example, my dad was in a frat when he was in college and though he was not a big partyier or drinker, he was able to focus on his degree of getting a CPA in the business school and told me that joining the frat was one of the best decisions he made in college. He strongly suggested me to join a frat because you can create so many connections with people from all around the world and these relationships built through the social life can only impact you in a positive way. If strong bonds are built with your brothers around you it can help in the future when making connections in the working environment and if you portray your image in a positive aspect then it can do nothing but help to build success to your resume. Overall after seeing these videos and reading these articles my decision has not changed to my choice of wanting to join a frat because I believe all the relationships built within them is worth it all and having a balance between a good social life and schoolwork is important to have throughout your entire life.

Drew Peterson locked up

One of the most recognized mass murderers in the media, Drew Peterson was finally sentenced again to jail to 38 years in jail for killing his third wife Kathleen Savio. Peterson has been surfacing the news for several years as two of his four wives were found dead and many believe that they were both linked to a homicide committed by Drew Peterson. After Peterson was found guilty back in September of a murder of Savio, his defense team asked for a retrial as they believed the death was due to the accident and that this was not a deliberate murder. On February 21, 2013 they found Peterson guilty once again and as he pleaded for his innocence by saying "I did not kill Kathleen!" that wasn't nearly enough to all the evidence linked to the homicide and that was why he was forced to be locked up in the jail cell for the remainder of his life. His fourth wife Stacy Peterson was also found dead back in 2007, but her disappearance was never solved though several people Drew Peterson was linked to her death as he was believed to be the murderer of her as well. After hearing this sentenced of Drew Peterson going to jail for the rest of his life brings joy to me and many other people around the world. There were never any charges that could be put on Peterson for the death of his fourth wife Stacy because of the fact that there was no concrete evidence in that case, but the point that the jury all found Peterson guilty of the murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio proves that this criminal deserved to be put in jail. This man was an extreme threat to society as he was a possible mass murderer being linked to the deaths of two of his four wives and if this man was free to the public no one knows what criminal mistake he would make next. It's about time that this man was put away and it is nice to see that any joy in this guys face was taken away after hearing his sentencing from the judge.

Murderous Blade Runner

Yesterday on Valentines Day we found out that Double Amputee Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. After becoming a role model for several young kids and all amputee victims around the world that you can compete with the best in any condition, his image and reputation began to disintegrate as the story of this tragedy began to unfold. Police investigators said that there had been previous allegations of domestic nature and previous incidents at their home, but nothing that was ever serious enough to see something like this occur. The girlfriend of the blade runner started the day off happy as can be as she went on twitter to say "It's a beautiful day! Make things happen. Starting my day off with a yummy healthy shake from my boo,". It is so sad to hear about this tragic event that occurred on Valentine's Day when the life of a young model was taken away when killed by several gunshots from Pistorius. It crazy how his image has flipped so rapidly from being a motivational story when being able to compete at such a high level running with the best in the world and representing his country of South Africa, and then having this burden on his life of having the image of being a murderer. I understand that nobody is guilty until they are proven it in court so we don't know if the accusations are too harsh at these times, but it is completely saddening to hear that the innocent life of this model was taken away.  

Another U.S. Shooting

Today on February Monday 11th 2013, another shooting in the United States occurred as two women were shot and killed inside of a courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware as well as two officers being shot, but were not wounded because of the bulletproof vests they were wearing. The story is still developing as it occurred this morning around 8 A.M., but news reports believe that the killers estranged wife was seemed to be as one of the victims. Ironically this shooting happened on the day that the police chief of Wilmington, Delaware was scheduled to be in Philadelphia to attend a round table discussion about gun safety where Vice President Joe Biden, law enforcement officials and members of Congress were expected to be there. After discussing gun control and all of the shootings that have been occurring the U.S. it doesn't seem like there are anything stopping these criminals from causing tragedies to many families in these murderous acts. When we finished watching the film by Michael Moore of Bowling for Columbine it was clear that the regulations for people to receive these hazardous weapons was way too easy and this was one of the reasons for so many gun killings every year. It is nice to hear that Joe Biden was planning on having a meeting about gun safety because in America it is outrageous to the amount of deaths every year just from gun shootings. The government needs to continue to regulate the laws around gun control and the selling of these weapons and there needs to be a change to stop all of these tragedies from happening so often.