Wednesday, October 3, 2007

The Abortion Debate

The issue of abortion is one that tends to spark great controversy in today's day and age. I believe it is something that will never be completely resolved, and whether abortion policies end in favor of it or not, there will always be a party that will be unhappy with the results. Those who are adamantly against it tend to be from deeply religious groups who feel that aborting a baby is comparable to homicide. This in turn leads to the issue of determining at what point a fetus is considered a human being-and this is where the true problem lies. Different people feel differently about this question, whether they are considered truly human at the point of conception or not until the time of their birth.

Governmental groups, organizations, and specifically politicians are challenged with this matter, and sometimes support for or against abortion determines whether one favors that politician or not. It is largely a determining factor to whether or not one wins any type of election. Because this has become such a huge political matter, the media has a big effect on how some people will view the subject. If one was once neutral about the matter, the media has the capability of swaying their opinion one way or the other. The media is often times quite biased about matters such as these, and will lead someone who is uneducated about the subject to believe a certain way solely based on the way it was presented in the media; this is truly a concerning actuality.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Teaching ABCs and Jihad

I came across an article last year titled "Teaching ABCs and Jihad" while researching for another assignment I had. It was an article about the United States "indirectly" contributing money to the University of Nebraska-Omaha in which this money was used to fund textbooks that were given to children that were filled with "violent images and militant Islamic teachings." The ways in which these textbooks promoted violence are exemplified by the pictures of tanks, missiles, and land mines that were used as counting objects to teach the children. It is clear that things of this sort are meant to spur young generations to become fanatically involved in such events as those that are being carried out by religious extremists today.

This subject matter is widely unknown because the media failed to take full coverage on it in hopes of concealing the United States' involvement with it. This event is hugely disastrous and leaves one wondering what else is going on in the world that is being covered up by the media in order to save those responsible, whether directly involved or not. One could say that the United States didn't know that their contribution would lead to these forthcomings, but if they are the so-called "superpower" of the world then they should at least keep tabs on where their money is going.