Category: A09: Causal Argument

One of the biggest reasons the US is falling behind in social mobility is the ever-increasing income inequality. The Equality of Opportunity Project ran a study that showed that 90 percent of Americans in 1940 were able to earn more than their parents, dropping to around 50 percent by 1980, and they cite income inequality as the main reason for the drop. By breaking up the US into sections, we see that it is the poorer, rural areas that provide less chance for more earnings. In the worst sections, particularly in the southern states between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi, the chance of earning more than the previous generation is 4.8 percent or lower. The best chance of moving up in terms of income distribution is to move out of those rural areas. This is not always a feasible option however. Many families are stuck in low-income areas. Inside those low-income areas are poorer and therefore more ineffective schools, which leads to a lower average education level. The lower the average education level, the less potential there is for new earnings. Thus the cycle continues, and the poor remain in the same spot, if not becoming poorer.

Do you know what is in that?

Childhood obesity is one the countries biggest health problems right now, and there is really no cure. In an article produced by the American Society for Nutrition they discuss how obesity is the reflection of the interactions of different factors such as, genetics, cultures, environments, socioeconomic status and behaviors. These factors are play a role in the reasons why people eat what they eat, specifically the consumption of sugar. For most Americans their main source of added sugars comes from their intake of sugary drinks. Consumption of these sugary drinks are incredibly high and is linked to being one of the leading causes in childhood obesity nationwide.

Sugary drinks are available everywhere from stores to schools to vending machines, making it nearly impossible for children not to get their hands on it. Due to easy access to sugar drinks such as cola, the consumption of these drinks sky rocket. In an article written by Roderick McKinley he states that the average American consumes 1.6 cans of soda a day, resulting in them consuming more than 500 cans of soda in one year. Think about one 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola. That can contains 39 grams of sugar. According to an article published by Sugar Science “the average amount of added sugar a child should consume in one day is 18.5 grams,  however this may vary based on age but will never be more than 25 grams.” If a child consumes just one can of Coca-Cola a day they have already doubled their sugar intake for the day. What is most concerning is that the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend “the total intake of discretional calories, including sugars and fats, should range between 5-15% per day, yet most American children consume about 16% of their intake from added sugars alone.” While many Americans are shocked to find out these statistics they also don’t always understand where these added sugars are coming from, and do not seem to realize that they come from the drinks they are consuming.

These sugary drinks are often consumed without much thought into the fact that the person consuming the drink is drinking large amounts of sugar as well as drinking a large percentage of calories and doing so very quickly. What becomes the problem is that many people consume more of this than their body needs and in an advice column published by the Arch Pediatric Medical Journal they state that these drinks are all consumed before a person’s body can realize they have consumed it as well as before the body has time to realize it is full the same way a body would when eating solid food.  The World Health Organization also adds to this by stating “these drinks have little nutritional value and do not provide the same feeling of fullness as solid food does,” making it so they continue to consume more even though their body has had enough. The more people consume sugary drinks the less their body breaks it down for energy resulting in it becoming fat, and over many years of doing this after, especially after starting at a young age, the fat continues to add up ultimately resulting in the person becoming obese. In a study conducted by the American College of Nutrition they found that “Obese children consume significantly more servings of fats and sugary beverages than non-obese children,” proving that the correlation between obesity and sugary drinks is in fact a direct cause to this nationwide epidemic.

Childhood Obesity may never be cured as it has some many different causes, however it can be reduced. The CDC currently states that childhood obesity affects about 12.7 million children. This amount of children could be reduced if the reduction of sugary drink consumption goes down as well. While it will not reduce the consumption of sugary drinks and its affects on childhood obesity by a lot, if parents become more educated and adopt healthy habits themselves, such as cutting back intake of soda, they will begin to influence their children and the children around them to do the same. As these educated parents, influence their children there is hope that in future generations obesity declines and is only a small percentage of the united states as those children will be able to provide the healthiest nutritional options for their future children.

Work Cited

”Childhood Obesity Facts.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 Nov. 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016

Gillis, Linda J., and Oded Bar-Or. “Food away from home, sugar-sweetened drink consumption and juvenile obesity.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition 22.6 (2003): 539-545.

Johnson. “How much is too much?” Research. SugarScience.org, 30 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2016.

Malik, Vasanti S., Matthias B. Schulze, and Frank B. Hu. “Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 84.2 (2006): 274-288.

McKinlay, Rodrick D. “Obesity Action Coalition » Childhood Obesity: The Link to Drinks.” Childhood Obesity: The Link to Drinks Comments. Obesity Action Coalition, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.

“Reducing Consumption of Sugar-sweetened Beverages to Reduce the Risk of Childhood Overweight and Obesity.” Reducing Consumption of Sugar-sweetened Beverages to Reduce the Risk of Childhood Overweight and Obesity. World Health Organization, 24 Aug. 2016. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.

Sugary Drinks and Childhood Obesity. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163(4):400. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.16

What really is holding back competitive gaming from becoming part of the mainstream, is the public. Accepting up and coming new trends can be difficult for the people who are accustom to the already established norm of their culture. Media outlets like CBS, HBO and TMZ in the past all have incorrectly defined the sport and have also given it a image that they believe fits their agendas. TMZ goes to the extant of writing “Question — What do pimply-faced geeks who play video games all day have in common with the 6’8″ demigods who roam NBA courts on a nightly basis???” In the description portions of one of their YouTube videos where they interview Rick Fox owner of Echo Fox (eSport Franchise) and also former NBA star for the Boston Celtics and LA Lakers. The exact same thing happens again in less than a month TMZ does another interview with Rick Fox and instead of fixing their mistakes they just repeat the cycle. TMZ goes onto writing “Beware NHL fans … Rick Fox says your sport will be overtaken … by nerds … ’cause the “League of Legends” team owner thinks eSports is primed to take hockey’s place as the fourth major sport in the U.S. in just TWO YEARS!”. This constant cycle of misjudging the eSport community just does not end.

For a news/media outlet to set specific physical standards for sports players just goes to show how ignorant some can be. Can this trend end? will the image that society gives video game playing ever change? If our media cannot accept this new outlet then the casual viewer will have no desire to follow eSports or learn about it. How did our culture come to know and love the sport of basketball or football? Well soon after the creation of these sports back in the late 1800’s, the creation of leagues rose and opened up the gates to the world of professional sports. with their own rules and regulations. They could turn a fun game to play and pass time, to something that can be considered a career, grant fame, fortune and set a standard of living that is now portrayed as the perfect life to regular society.

Esports just like professional sports started with its creation of leagues. Leagues that go by the name of Electronic Sports League (ESL) and League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). These are some of the larger brand leagues that come along with their own rules and regulations, Which is no different from from the NBA or the NFL What makes basketball and football so popular in North America is its ability to create rivalries between fans and players stemming off of the fact that each team represents a state or city. Which then causes an increase in enthusiasm and support for teams. Esports on the other hand is on the international level of fan bases. Where organisations can represent multiple countries rather than just national states.

Community and fan base is everything when it comes to sports along with professionalism and extreme consistency in the skill of said athletes. But if an entire culture is going to misinterpret the underlying definition of what a sport really is and what it adds to society then without a doubt mindsets will not change and this sport will belong in the niche category of sports.

Works cited

TMZSports. “Rick Fox- ESports Jocks Are Just Like NBA Players…Real Athletes | TMZ Sports.” YouTube. YouTube, 12 Mar. 2016. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

TMZSports. “Rick Fox- ESports Will Overtake NHL In 2 Years!! | TMZ Sports.” YouTube. YouTube, 21 Mar. 2016. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

The purpose behind gun laws are to protect people and lower crimes and murders related to guns.  Countries with stricter gun laws have been able to achieve this purpose, However the U.S. has yet to accomplish this. A study revealed that in 2007,Finland  had 23 gun homicides and 172 gun suicides while the U.S. had 12,632 homicides and 17,352 gun suicides that same year. In 2007, Switzerland was ranked number 3 in international gun ownership with gun ownership rates with 45.3 guns per 100 people. Whereas the U.S. was ranked first in international gun ownership with gun ownership rates with 88.8 guns per people. The U.S. may have enforced gun control laws, however they have too many guns to try to control when compared to other countries.

By reducing the amount of guns in the U.S., the U.S. would be able to reduce their gun deaths. In doing so with fewer deaths the U.S. would be able to start saving other problems as well. Other problems would include less people dying from mass shootings, less conflicts would become more violent and less people would die from the cause of guns such as suicides and accidental gun deaths. A study has unveiled, there were 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013: 270,237 suicides; 174,777 homicides; and 9,983 unintentional deaths. Guns were also the leading cause of death by homicide and suicide. One study shows, that a person who desires to kill themselves is unlikely to commit suicide with a poison or a knife when a gun is unavailable.

There has been a misconception in terms of the gun laws because of what guns have been intended for, what they are actually used for and who has bought the guns, and who actually has used the guns. The misconception is that people claim they intend to use guns in self- defense. However a study has revealed, of 29,618,300 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.79% of victims protected themselves with a threat of use or use of firearm, the least employed protective behavior. Furthermore there has been a misconception with the people who purchase guns, and the people who actually use the purchased guns. One study unveiled that between 2005 and 2010, 1.4 million guns were stolen from U.S. homes during property crimes with a yearly average of 232,400.

Works Cited

http://gun-control.procon.org/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/10/28/lax-indiana-gun-laws/74740388/ 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/wonkblog/suicide-rates/ 

 

 

 

 

We see advertising for fast food everywhere.  It is as if the media chooses to neglect the problem children and adults face which is the ongoing fight with obesity.  The Obesity Society led by their Corresponding Author, Youfa Wang states, “On average, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased steadily among all US population groups over the past two to three decades.” Obesity does not have a preference on gender or race.  This may lead one to wonder “Will all Americans one day become overweight or obese?”  We can put an end or atlas regress the spiraling upward trend of obesity in Americans.

It all starts at home with parents and what they see outside and on the television. Parents need to be held responsible for their children and their health.  The World Health Organization and other leading institutions both international and domestic have provided or atlas attempted to create a body mass index or BMI.  The purpose of a BMI is to determine what weight is a healthy weight depending on your height and age.  According to the LA County Department of Public Health, “42% of children are obese or overweight.” That is almost half of the entire county and should alarm anyone who has kids or plans on having kids.  Maybe the American people just got too lazy started a negative trend and did not know how to fix it.

Americans have become way too lazy to say the least.  We see children, that would rather play a sport online then outside with his friends.  Parents who allow their child to become obese should be a crime for a list of reasons starting off with they only have so much say in what they eat when they are not the ones putting the food on the table.  The media is good at tempting the American viewers.  It makes it seem like its okay to eat out a few days a week because it is something that everyone does here and there.  They provide celebrities and other icons that kind of catch your eye and actually pay attention to what you see and sometimes convinces you on the spot especially if you are not really sure what you want to eat or how hungry you really are.  It starts and stops with the media and will continue to affect Americans until we start acting like we understand the severity of this disease.

It starts off with children with bad eating habits, who turn into overweight teenagers, which leads to obese adults with health problems.  This has become a trend and no one wants to be the one with the finger pointed at them.  Earlier I spoke about how it starts at home.  Another big impact on what children eat is at school.  Eating healthy isn’t fun or for now not yet.  Americans have glorified going out to eat.  Going out to eat is a luxury and not everyone can, not to mention it can also be very expensive especially where you go to eat is also very important.  What child does not love getting to go to McDonalds for lunch?  The media targets children with toys, happy meals, and even play houses.  I can attest to this claim because my family were victims to this growing up.

Works Cited

Wang Y, Beydoun MA. The obesity epidemic in the United States—gender, age, socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and geographic characteristics: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Epidemiol Rev  2007; 29: 6–28.

Klein, S., Allison, D. B., Heymsfield, S. B., Kelley, D. E., Leibel, R. L., Nonas, C. and Kahn, R. (2007), Waist Circumference and Cardiometabolic Risk: A Consensus Statement from Shaping America’s Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity Prevention; NAASO, The Obesity Society; the American Society for Nutrition; and the American Diabetes

Reilly John J, Armstrong Julie, Dorosty Ahmad R, Emmett Pauline M, Ness A, Rogers I et al. Early life risk factors for obesity in childhood: cohort studyBMJ  2005;  330 :1357

 

 

9/11 Made America More Racist

It seems that racism has been around since before the dawn of time itself. It has thrived in the best and worst of times and in every corner of the earth, doing particularly well in the United States of America. America’s relationship with racism has been a very long one and it’s still going strong. As if the situation hadn’t been dire enough, then the twin towers in New York City were attacked in an act of terrorism more horrific and devastating than the world had ever known. Whether or not the 9/11 hijackers understood the consequences of their actions is irrelevant. The after-effects rippled outwards and caused further damage more than what anyone could have expected. Fifteen years later, Americans are still dealing with the repercussions of one man’s decision to attack the United States. 9/11 shocked and terrified the world. That day set a new precedent for the future of public safety all over the globe. The TSA was exploding with new rules and restrictions on who and what can be on a plane. Americans become even more wary of anyone who didn’t look like them. The media turned the situation into a joke. Tabloids were printing new conspiracy theories everyday while shows like “South Park” and “Family Guy” turned the whole ordeal and those behind the attacks into a punchline. The saddest part is that we had an opportunity to make a comeback. It would have been one of the most difficult things our country had ever done and would have further changed the world forever but we failed to take advantage of our opportunity to find good in the situation. We’ve let the 9/11 attacks define our foreign policies, world relations and even how America functions domestically. Furthermore it’s changed how we relate to others. Our culture had never been particularly welcoming to new elements but more now than ever, we bristle at the idea of welcoming anyone or anything we’re not immediately familiar with. In recent years this reaction has softened, especially with younger generations rising up and becoming more politically aware but the majority of America still holds deeply rooted emotions against anything related to the 9/11 hijackings. The ripple effects of the attacks still continue outward even today. Presidential nominee Donald J. Trump made it a main point in his campaign to assure Americans that he’d place restrictions on allowing muslims to enter our country. Regardless of whether or not his prejudice stems from the attacks, many his voters share this sentiment because of the events of 9/11.

Citations
Rose, S. (2013, September 12). Since 9/11, Racism and Islamophobia Remain Intertwined. Retrieved November 04, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/steve-rose/911-racism-islamophobia_b_3908411.html

Poladian, C. (2015, September 11). The United States After 9/11: 6 Things That Have Changed Since 2001. Retrieved November 09, 2016, from http://www.ibtimes.com/pulse/united-states-after-911-6-things-have-changed-2001-2093156

Since the Treyvon Martin case opened up to the public some odd years ago, the public has heard of more and more “innocent” African American men being killed. This has led to the racial protests and anarchy we are used to today. Although, it is self evident when you look into the statistics that these police officers are not only non-racist but are doing their job at a high level. In an article written by the National Review they used statistics from the Post that said American police had fatally shot 965 people in 2015, 564 of those killed were armed with a gun, 281 were armed with another weapon, and 90 were unarmed. This means that 70% plus cases involving fatal shootings are after an officer is put into danger, defending himself or defending someone else. When it comes to race the common view is that these fatal shootings on the black communities by white law enforcement is normal. However, its only 4% of all fatal shootings performed by officers each year. Then the next most common argument these “Black Lives Matter” protesters us his that though black males only make up 6% of the United States population they make up 40% of unarmed men shot by police each year. the misleading statistics is used to hypnotize the general public without giving out all the facts. Young African American deaths really have nothing to do with race; in fact they sort of bring up a more plausible issue in police force. Everyone talks about racism but never sexism. Those that are classified as criminals or threats are usually primarily male. Police officers rarely ever fire their gun at a female. And the reason mostly black males are fatally shot is simply because general areas with large black populations tend to have high crime/death rates. In the National Review article they said blacks “commit homicide at close to eight times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined….among males between the ages of 14 and 17, the interracial homicide commission gap is nearly tenfold.”(French pg. 1) Also they said “In 2014, for example, while black Americans constituted only about 13 percent of the population, they represented a majority of the homicide and robbery arrests. 82 percent of all gun deaths in the black community are from homicide. For whites, 77 percent of gun deaths are suicides.”(French pg. 1) Therefore, with years of data and the elements presented it is evident that these cops aren’t out here to target a specific demographic but instead base their watches off the data they are given and unfortunately sometimes the incidents result in death. People make individual choices to break the law it has nothing to do with race. A white man is just as dangerous as a black man.

French, David. “The Numbers Are In: Black Lives Matter Is Wrong about Police.” National Review. National Review, 28 Jan. 2016. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/429094/black-lives-matter-wrong-police-shootings

 

The rights of Americans have been the country’s most treasured pursuit. To able to live in such a free nation has put a lot pressure on the government to protect our life styles. Our values as Americans have made us a target for terror to instill disbelief in our liberty. However, as Americans we stand together against those who oppose our rights. When analyzing the events at San Bernardino we understand that those who disagree with our way of life use it to their advantage to pursue a reality that does not already surround them. The FBI has made a request with the department of justice that would alert the world of technology consumers. A request that requires Apple to access information on an iPhone used by a terrorist. This request has brought the question of private security verse public security to the public. (1) In, “Apple’s Conundrum: The Immutability of Liberty vs. Security by Yaozong Ma states, “A cornerstone of the FBI‟s argument was the All Writs Act which allowed courts to “issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law” (Limer, 2016). Essentially, All Writs Act provides justification and authorization for courts to craft, enact, and implement orders which compel individuals to perform acts provided that reasoning is both necessary and legal (Limer, 2016).” This shows that the FBI believes that they have the legal means to ask for assistance from a third party. (2) In FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones, by Craig Timberg and Greg Miller report the motives of FBI Director James B. Comey wanting Apple to comply with their request. Comey states that, “He could not understand why companies would market something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law.” His reasoning is based on the assumption that apple only caters to the top percent of people who can afford their products. Protecting their private information is what made their company so great to their customers. He defends his stance on protecting the public; moreover it is such a hard stance he forgets that private privacy is just as important to the public. Apple has been known to sell the most exclusive hardware since the beginning of their company.