Obama and Same-Sex Marriage

“Every single American — gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, transgender — every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of our society.”

President Barack Obama has always been a controversial President. Not only is he the first Democrat in awhile to run the country, he is also the first Black president. Obama is the most recent-and most prominent- politician to express his endorsement of same-sex marriage

As the current presidential campaign heats up, Obama and Mitt Romney have been the top picks for the election. Both candidates have expressed their opinions on same-sex marriage. Obama has actually caused uproars in the churches of the southern United States. Same-sex marriage is one of the most diverse national controversies in the USA. It has been an ongoing debate for the past two decades and finally, a president has backed gay marriage. The next great concern about the issue is how far Obama will take his opinion in Congress.

Obama also recently ended restrictions against gays serving openly in the military. This was a huge step in the American military system. The same-sex marriage issue has now become part of the Democratic Party platform. Mitt Romney, of the Republicans, has shown his support for passing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Many gay rights supporters have shown nothing but praise for Barack Obama’s opinion, but some worry that it could receive a huge backlash throughout religious groups.

With an election around the corner, the voters of America are faced with a choice, vote for Obama and the right for gay marriage, or vote for Romney and put a ban on gay marriage. We just have to wait and see what happens come election time.

Luka Rocco Magnotta

Luka Rocco Magnotta

            Luka Magnotta is a 29 year old suspected for killing Jun Lin, a Chinese university student in Montreal.  Montreal Police claimed that Magnotta was having a relationship with his victim. Luca filmed and broadcasted the alleged act, and has been mailing Jun Lin’s body parts to Canadian political parties and even directly to Stephen Harper. Luka’s film has been circulating around internet gore sites and shows signs of cannibalism. Luka ran off to Europe and was caught by Inter-pol in Berlin (coincidentally Germany has the most cannibals in the world) and didn’t even struggle. Luka is being held in Berlin Jail and asked for solitary confinement until he is extradited back to Canada. Did Luka Magnotta want to be found? Does he want to be extradited? Or is Magnotta just a crazy homicidal cannibal who is angry at the government and several Vancouver schools?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/06/05/magnotta-germany-judge-berlin.html

Euphemisms and Dysphemisms

A pleasantly plump man’s best friend and a gargantuan flee bag. Both mean the same thing, a fat dog, but invoke two completely different feelings. By describing things in a certain way, we are also conveying our opinion on the specific topic. In an argument, euphemisms can be used to be polite or to make the issue seem more pleasant to encourage persuasion on their argument. Dysphemisms are used to demonstrate the negative opinions on something and make it seem worse than it is. In the military, the soldiers wouldn’t describe killing other soldiers as murder; they would refer to it as neutralizing the opponent. For hippies, they would probably opt to use a dysphemism such as, cold-blooded murder, to describe the happenings on a battlefield. We use euphemisms to avoid insulting somebody; instead of using the word ‘retarded’ we would say someone has a ‘mental illness’. Perhaps we build these euphemisms surrounding the stigmas in our society to make ourselves feel more comfortable when speaking of them. We seem to even make up words to make awkward topics much easier to speak of; topics like sex, death and pooh, to be blunt.

Euphemisms first began in old Greece. They believed that by replacing religious taboo words with euphemisms they would avoid fatal consequences. It was almost like magical thinking, and soon euphemisms became popular in disguising less socially accepted words. And soon became a political tool.

It is especially important in health care to avoid euphemisms. An example would be using a procedure with a much more confusing scientific name, rather than informing the patient of a less expensive procedure with a much more simple name. Sure a doctor can advertise, but it would be breaching the rules of informed consent by giving a fancier name to an expensive treatment, rather than using the normal name for a less costly one. The patient doesn’t know exactly what they are getting with the procedure with a euphemism.

There comes a point when our euphemisms and dysphemisms become lies, like “making murder respectable”.

Where child sacrifice is a business

 

Where child sacrifice is a business

In Kampala, the capital of Uganda, the witch doctors get paid to abduct the innocent children in villages and farming communities. These children are the victims of the ritual murders of what is called the child sacrifice business. Their decapitated bodies are buried in the side of the roads or the local fields. The children are closely watched by their teachers and parents on their way to and from their schools to prevent any more abductions as well as innocent sacrifices.

Many people believe that the witch doctors get paid to commit such crimes by the members of the country’s new elite to provide increased wealth with their big sums of money. According to a pastor named Peter Sewakiyanga at the Kyampisi Childcare Ministries church, child sacrifice followed by the ritual abductions and murders has risen due to people’s strong ambitions for money. They have a belief that they could get much richer if they sell their children to people who are actually willing to buy these children for a price, which made the child sacrifice become a commercial business, an inappropriate one.

This kind of belief and rituals that some of the Ugandan people have go against the principle of autonomy and respect as well as the principle of equality and justice. They do not respect the rights of the innocent children and treat them without any equality or justice by murdering them inhumanely. They disregard the freedom of the children and see the value of their lives as trivial things.

Not many Ugandans in the Ugandan villages and farming communities are wealthy enough. However, it is not righteous to use the children for commercial business purposes and sell them around just to increase their wealth. This kind of abductions and murders must stop for the protection of the children’s rights and justice.

Did you know, that on average, a person lies about 14.5 times a day? That would be my third today.

Regardless, we all know that lying is something we do at least once a day. Big lies, small lies, white lies, hurtful lies, I'm saying all kinds of lying (and yes, even those you say to protect others). Its probably one of the most common wrong acts to carry out. Daily.

If all truth was good, which in this case, would make lying bad, things would be much simpler. Don't lie. 

Parents always seem to teach their children, "always tell the truth". Yet, as we get older, we start to realize that telling the truth often has to be nuanced..

The truth isn't always beneficial, and it hurts half the time. That's where white lies come into play. An accurate definition or white lies would be a harmless or trivial lie, especially one told to avoid hurting someone's feelings. I think we can all agree that in some situations, lying could be the more appropriate ethical response to a conflict, than telling the truth.

Although white lies are mostly told to avoid conflict or to protect someone, it is, still lying itself. Even if telling a white lie might be beneficial to the person you are telling it to, most of the times, they would have to face the truth sooner or later, which is arguably more hurtful than telling them the truth in the first place. 

This has been debated lots, and people all over the world of all ages have different opinions on this. Personally, I try to avoid lying, that would cause trouble on a later date. Telling someone the hurtful truth, is certainly much better than keeping it from them. You can't keep a secret forever, nor can you lie for a lifetime. One thing that some of us realize is that no matter what kind of lies are told, it breaks the trust between the liar and the receiver of the lie.

On the ethical side of things. There are many different ways an ethicist can look at lying. For example, utilitarians would look at the consequences of a lie, to tell whether the lie is a good one or a bad one. in contrast, a deontologist although, would not agree with looking at the consequences. But they generally accept 'do not tell lies', simply. Same with virtue ethicists.

So, what's your take on lies? Any exceptions to your rule?

If you're undecided, take a look at this article by the BBC, that lays it all out for you.

The Power of Yoga

Yoga is the practice of physical, mental, and spiritual discipline. It originated from India and the earliest evidence of yoga has been traced back all the way to 3000 B.C. It is practiced in many parts of the world and is very popular amongst women. It is said that yoga can help improve your health, balance, flexibility, fitness, and many other things.

Yoga has benefited a woman named Carolyn LaFleur who was involved in a car accident and while physical therapy and massage therapy helped her hip and neck to recover, it did not make the pain in her head go away. Her headaches did subside however, when she started practicing yoga and she claims that doing yoga has given her strength. Doctors say that yoga can lower your tension and it relaxes the tone of your muscle. It also helps bring down stress levels, which makes arteries relax so there is more blood flow everywhere, so everything becomes better.

While therapy and medication work pretty well to relieve pain and stress, yoga can also help with your health conditions as well. It is often underestimated as a good way of treatment and it can also become an enjoyable method for fitness. If yoga is practiced regularly, it can greatly benefit a person’s well being.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/yoga/CM00004

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/21/yoga.pain.management.cohen/index.html

http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/beginnersguide/yogahistory.asp

To Steal, or not to steal?

The picture above asks a question. The question is as follows: " It is 1933. You are in Berlin, Germany. Somehow, you find yourself in a position where you can effortlessly steal Adolf Hitler's wallet. This theft will not effect Hitler's rise to power, the nature of World War II, or the Holocaust. There is no important identification in the wallet, but the act will cost Hitler forty Reichsmarks (german currency back then) and completely ruin his evening. You do not need the money. The odds that you will be caught committing this crime are less than 2 percent.
Are you ethically obligated to steal Hitler's wallet? 


This question is difficult to answer, maybe even impossible. It leads to many other ethical questions that could be asked such as; Why would that be an obligation? Because Hitler did bad things, is stealing his wallet justified?
Of course we know he is responsible for the largest genocide in history, but if we had an opportunity to do something bad to him in return, knowing what he did, we assume that anyone would do it. It is expected of everyone that if they had the chance to subject Hitler to some sort of inconvenience, even if it is as insignificant as stealing a wallet, they would. Why? 
It is has been taught to us as children that what he did and who is was, was bad. We are programmed to give a negative connotation to his name whenever it is spoken. But we have never been taught how to respond if an opportunity is presented. It is a thing of the past, and why would we ever need to know how to deal with something that has already happened and over with? But once we are faced with a question like this, we do not know how to answer. Though most would steal the wallet, many would stop to think, "what's the point?" If it doesn't affect anything about the war or the holocaust, why do it? Because somehow we think that stealing a wallet will compensate for a fraction of the crimes that he committed, and that somehow makes us some sort of hero. So before you go to bed tonight, demand an answer from yourself to this question, and ask yourself why. You may be like me, and not be able to come up with an actual reasons for your "yes of course I would."