Connecting the Dots

My current career goal right now is to study and work in the field psychology. This could really help further the study and add depth to my research paper on racism and racial profiling because it explores the human mind and looks at why we think the way that we do. It can help me understand and explain why some people hold certain point of views and opinions towards others based on their race.

Racism

7 TIMES

     After reading and hearing about this horrible  tragedy, my feelings toward this awful news were shared with Erica's view on what had happened. This shooting of an innocent little boy breaks my heart and really leaves me questioning the world we live in and why these sorts of things are becoming more common, and why people do what they do. Its hard to believe that an officer would feel threatened by such a young child and it's also just as surprising to me that it wasn't obvious that the gun held by the little boy was a fake one and could cause no harm. My opinion on this was changed when I saw a picture of the toy gun held to a real one and the similarities were more than the differences. It still does not justify in my mind why the boy was shot 7 times. If they really did feel the need to shoot, why was once not enough? This is the same question Erica had asked over and over and I think a lot others would carry this question after learning about this tragedy. Some could argue whether shooting at all was the right decision or not, but I would hope to find that most people found 7 shots to be an unreasonable amount. Was it an act of racism? Erica draws the conclusion that the shooting was not okay.She also mentions that the racial issue is actually not the real issue here, the real issue is how one person can possibly find it in them to shoot another person 7 times. Javi's essay takes a much more neutral approach stating more facts than feeling which is what Erica focused on.

RACIAL PROFILING LIVES ON

• Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that the stop-and-frisk practices of the NYPD violate the constitution  is being applauded as a victory against unreasonable policing
• Mayor Bloomberg disagrees
• Judge Scheindlin's ruling doesn't change the authority that police officers have been given to target based on race
• Although the 4th amendment protects against unreasonable acts, the police still hold a huge discretion to stop and question those who have done nothing wrong
• can ask for permission to search him or his belongings, wouldn't have to tell him that he has the right to refuse or walk away
• can stop and ask to search for weapons based on "reasonable suspicion"- more than a hunch but less than a probable cause
• officer could chase Tony even if he had no reason to believe that he had violated any law
• if Tony was a Latino, the officer could argue that he looked mexican so he believed that he was undocumented
• can arrest Tony no matter how minor the charge, including handcuffing and searching and hauling him off 
• if beaten, shot, killed, etc; winning the claim would be hard

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/opinion/racial-profiling-lives-on.html?adxnnl=1&smid=pl-share&adxnnlx=1383620502-cVKv8zhZKiLOKtUNS36TXg

What I See Is All In My Head

I was so focused on just paying very close attention to the people wearing white and how many passes they were making that my eyes and mind did not wander from those three people at any time during that video and it was shocking to me when I watched it again after being informed that there was a gorilla in the video. It was amazing that the gorilla walked right through the center of the people passing the basketball and even paused for a while before leaving and I didn't even notice it for a second. Watching the video a second time and seeing how obvious the gorilla was really blew my mind.

Tools That Change the Way We Think

The use of the Internet, media, and technology affect the way that I think probably more than it should. It's much easier to doubt yourself than to doubt information that you find on the web. Although it's most definitely not a good thing, I believe that a lot of people will believe almost anything that they read on online sources. The internet has proved to be a very useful tool to help with almost anything. If you find yourself wanting to know more about a certain something you can just simply type in a few words in a search bar on the web and nearly everything you could possibly want to know will pop up. Personally, I find that having this privilege results in laziness sometimes because instead of taking a little time to really think about something and use your own knowledge to figure something out we rely on Google or Yahoo to find it for us. But opposing that idea it also allows us to grow and adapt to new ways of learning. One of the biggest struggles of being a child during a period of time where technology is becoming more dominant but is still new enough where a lot of our elders are confused by it and really just don't accept or understand it. I don't think they realize how amazing and helpful it really is. It's important to realize that the Internet/media/technology is used as a tool and not a crutch.

Filter Bubbles

I've never realized or even taken the time to really think about what's actually happening when you're using the internet as a search engine or tool to find out more information about a certain topic or subject. I've never even second guessed why so many different links come up with one simple search and why it may be different to someone else who is searching the same exact thing as you at the same exact time. You would think that it the exact same results would pop up for every person at any time if the same thing is being searched, but I learned that that is not the case. Every search you make and every time you innocently click on a link that you decided is best, you are customizing and building your own "filter bubble". A filter bubble is your own personal unique universe online. Websites such as Google and Yahoo are using personalization and these filter bubbles when giving search results. This really changed my perspective about what I find online. I've always felt confident, for the most part, in what I find when searching something but this has made me realize that I shouldn't always click on the first result that pops up.