Patriotism Pains

Every morning, we have to stand and say the pledge, well actually that's not completely true, we don't have to stand and say it, but almost everyone does every morning anyways.  I want to say that we do it to be patriotic and show our love of America, but honestly that's not why most of us stand and say it; we stand up and recite the pledge because everyone else does and that's what is accepted.  I'm not saying that we aren't patriotic, because I know that I am patriotic, it's just that blindly reciting something that we learned in pre-k shouldn't be considered patriotic.  

Some people believe that patriotism is always good and no one can be too patriotic, which is ok because everyone is entitled to their own views, but personally I disagree.  There are times when being too patriotic is a bad thing. Is it ok to kill innocent people just because their country's views oppose yours or their country hates yours? I don't think that violence should be the first response to anything, because violence just breeds hate.  

Malcolm X said "You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it."  This quote basically states that you can be patriotic but also a good person, but it depends on how far you are willing to go in the name of your country. There are things that everyone can do to support their country and show off their pride, but how far is too far? 

Feminism = Equality

It's not a secret that women didn't share the same basic human rights as men until very recently and are still fighting for them in many places around the World.  It's obvious throughout history that men were given more importance and women were treated as property. It seems ridiculous that women would not be able to share the same rights as men especially in this day and age, but women are still treated like they were in the 1600's.  While watching The Crucible, I noticed how the female actors portrayed their characters and how they treated the male characters; they always sought approval and asked for permission to do anything, like speak freely in the courts.

I realized that women in some developing nations are still treated like this, they still have to ask for permission to speak or even to go out.  That, to me, is insane, why are women seen as inferior to men? Why do males throughout history believe that they're the most important to the survival of our race? Why wouldn't people want equal rights and opportunities without bias on gender? 

There is no one answer to each of these questions.  Women have been treated unfairly for hundreds of years and it probably won't stop anytime soon, especially with the attitude that we currently have which depicts the movement for women's rights, Feminism, as stupid and annoying.  When people think of feminism they think of a bunch of men hating, crazy women who demand ridiculous things, but the truth is that feminism isn't that at all.  Feminism equals equality.  Feminis
m is the movement for gender equality, it's not a group of women who hate men and want to watch the world burn.  When people say "what you don't know, you fear" that's true, because people get annoyed or have horrible reactions when talking about feminism, but most of the time they have absolutely no idea of what feminism really is.  There is no possible way that anyone could ever be against feminism because all the movement is about is equal rights without gender discrimination. Don't fear what you don't know, learn about what you don't know, so that there won't be anything to fear. Women should not have to ask for permission to go outside of the house, they should not have to ask for permission to speak, they should not have to get married at young ages against their will, they should not have to be with a male relative at all times, they should not be treated as property because of their gender, which they cannot help.  

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written and signed by the states that make up the United Nations, states in Article 2 that people cannot be discriminated against due to gender. That is considered a basic human right, the right not to be discriminated because of gender. Why is there still a fear of women's equal rights not only in the developing world, but also in 1st world countries? 

Mob Madness

When you hear the words "mass hysteria," what do you think of?  The reaction is probably along the lines of something bad happening in society like the Salem Witch Trials, the Mayan Apocalypse, or even the Red Scare.  Most of the time mass hysteria hurts the idea of a perfect world, but sometimes mass hysteria is good.  

You're probably trying to think of times when mass hysteria is actually good, well there are many times, like the release of the original iPhone.  The release signified the beginning of a new wave of technology, the smart phone era.  Another time that mass hysteria didn't lead to violence or didn't help hurt anyone was the formation and release of boy bands like *NSYNC and BSB (Backstreet Boys). These boy bands linked teenage girls from all over the world because of their mutual love of BSB or *NSYNC.  While on the more political side of things, the Arab Spring was an extremely important example of mass hysteria, because it symbolizes the desire for freedom against oppressive regimes in Middle Eastern countries.  

There are many more times that mass hysteria was used to better the world and that shouldn't dampen our perspective on what we think mass hysteria to be.