The Media.

As most of us know, an 8.8 earthquake hit Chile early in the morning on Saturday. It triggered a Tsunami alert for nations and territories in the Pacific Ocean. Me and my parents were watching the news all day, because we have relatives in Hawaii. On the news they were saying how the earthquake in Chile was much stronger than the one in Haiti yet it didn't kill as many people. Then they said many Americans were stranded in Chile. It also said about ten thousand Americans lived in Chile. President Obama has offered help to the Chilean government, but although Chile was struck hard they do not need help at the moment. Of course everyone's doing the best they can to get the Americans back home safely.

It made me realise how the media can provide not only news, but feed fear. Me and my parents were paranoid because we were worried that my uncle would get caught in the tsunami. The media has had a history of causing panic like Y2K, where people frantically ran to grocery stores to stalk up on water thinking that all technology would end. When 2012 comes around, some news stations will probably make a big deal of it. Media not only revolves around newscasts. It involved movies, commercials, and radio. One of the recent films that was very popular was 'Avatar.' I can't really give my opinion since I didn't watch it. But I was reading some reviews online and one of them said that 'Avatar' could be considered racist. The movie is basically about an advanced civilization trying to take over a weaker one. In history we've seen many weaker civilizations being taken over by an advanced. The plot of the story was considered a bit racist, where a civilization depended on a "white" person. I'm not going to talk about the review so here's the link.

Does the media screw around? The slightest things could be taken as an offence. Like tall blue aliens, or simply when the media focuses on one single part of the story and not the rest. The media is a big part of our daily lives now a days. It's the easiest way to know what's going around the world and in other states such as Hawaii even though it's not part of the mainland. I'm pretty sure media will evolve as time goes on, but will it ever really change?

Religion+Politics=?

When the pilgrims came over from Europe, they were escaping religious persecution. Their governments were based on "liberty and justice for all." Then why is it now a days there's persecution everywhere? Does everything really seem fair? Every year we elect people to represent us in the government. Our decisions are based on our views of how this country should be ran. When President Obama was running, he changed his religion to Christianity. Why? Did he not think he could make it being Muslim? Did people think his actions were going to be based on a religion some Americans fear? America is supposed to be "land of the free" and "home of the brave." Yet some Americans do not feel safe, or free. Many people are persecuted just because they're not Christian. In New York it may not seem like it, but America's unofficial religion is Christianity(Non-Catholic). When laws are being made, do you really think our representatives are being fair when they ban gay marriages? Are they banning it because of their religion? Sure it may seem awkward to some people to see two men or women get married. But if America is supposed to be "land of the free" then why not let them get married? Just because a religion does not accept them doesn't mean a country can't. Many people say "marriage is a special bond between a MAN and WOMAN." May that as it be, but who are we to deny the rights of a human being? Many people don't understand that not all gays are the same.

It's not the first time people use the excuse of "God told me to" to do something that was harmful. As many of us know, the U.S. expanded during the Mexican Secession using the excuse that it was their "destiny" to take over the continent. Another example of religion being used as an excuse is when Americans were pushing the Native Americans onto reservations. Most couldn't even survive. Native Americans weren't even considered U.S. citizens. Families were broken apart, and many starved. Every year, many immigrants come to try to better their economic conditions. But when you think of the word "immigrant," what do you think of. I'm so used to relating the word "Latino" and "immigrant" because it's on the news a lot. If you think about it, the dominant religion in Latin America is Catholicism. Get the picture? Of course I'm probably wrong, but it seems so common now a days that discrimination is not only based on race, but religion.

Hopefully governmental decisions are NOT being based on religious views. If this was a country where all were free and free to speak out, then why is there still such discrimination?

Spain

As we know, European countries have had great influence in the Western Hemisphere. England and America/Canada, France and Eastern Canada/The Caribbean, Portugal and Brazil, and of course Spain and Latin America. Spain is in particular one of the most interesting to me. Not because they managed to influence almost two continents, but because there are many cultural differences in the country itself.

Just like in Latin America, there are many types of Spaniards. The Spanish culture was greatly influenced by Muslim culture for a long time, about from 711 AD to the 1400s. There's evidence in the music and dance. Today I was listening to the song "Unidos," which means "United," by a group from Spain called Banghra. It uses the combination of modern day music and cultural Muslim music. The song is in Spanish, but some of the dances are similar to those from Muslim culture.

We seem to think that America is one of the few countries with great diversity in its people. In Spain there is a great diversity as well. There are African-Spaniards, Jewish-Spaniards, Muslim-Spaniards, and old fashioned Spaniards. Even though Spanish is spoken throughout the whole country, each region of the country has it's own language as well. In Brasque Country and Navarre, Euskara is spoken while Catalan is spoken in Catalonia. You know how the English and Americans have different accents? And even Americans have different accents within themselves? In Spain, there was a certain accent called Andaluz which is the most similar to the Spanish in the Western Hemisphere. The accent varies as you travel in Spain. The Spanish spoken in Latin America is called Castilian, but even within the Castilian Spanish there are different accents.

When I asked my father why we didn't speak Mayan, he responded it was because our family was closer to Spanish decent. The Spaniards that came taught the Native Americans in Central and South America their language. But throughout time some Natives weren't so open-minded about Spanish. When you ask a New Yorker "Are you proud to be an American, or more proud of being a New Yorker?" chances are they'll say New Yorker. It was the same situation in Spain. Many were proud of their region.

I'm certain there are many countries around the world that have a great diversity within itself such as China and South Africa. But Spain was the one I could connect with the most.

It's been so long since I've watched the cartoon show "Invader Zim." Basically it's about an alien that wants to destroy the human race. Today I watched a commercial saying that "Invader Zim" would air again in March for a month only. I realised how much cartoons now adays suck so much. Even though "Invader Zim" looks like a childish show, it was still a good one. Cartoon shows today look way too childish and I've seen that they often display some things that are very gross. Don't get me wrong, some of today's cartoon shows are pretty good, but nothing compares to the old stuff.