Why Should Anyone Care?

 Why Should Anyone Care? 

1. “You don’t think you could do anything about it do you?” 

Well, the issue of high healthcare costs in America is something that is caused by the government. They're the ones who continuously make the decision to keep Americans paying for healthcare. This is a massive issue because many people cannot afford to pay for healthcare, and they don’t get treated when they get sick. People suffer from illnesses and injuries and don’t get the care they need because of the cost of healthcare. Many people agree that healthcare is something that should be provided to any and all people who need it, regardless of their income. 

“But how are you going to try to fix the problem? You don’t have any say in the government.”

American citizens should do their best to vote and speak up about this topic. There are many candidates running for office in the government that advocate for lowering the cost of healthcare. People need to vote for those people because that could be the first step of change. America is run by a democracy, so citizens have a say in who runs the government. If we all come together to make this change, we can lower the cost of healthcare and get people the treatment they deserve. 

2. In his essay, Michael Pollan provides many reasons to start making changes in your own life to help the climate crisis. He argues that if you do make change, you will set an example for other people around you. People are highly influenced by others, so setting a good example will motivate others to do the same. If people continue to influence each other, then a large number of people will have changed their lifestyle habits for the better. This can lead to the climate change crisis to finally settle down. He also points out that it’s important to remember that if we can, we should bother to try. If everyone decides they want to bother, or try to change their bad environmental behavior, then the planet will have a chance of being saved. We don’t have much time, so everyone needs to do what they can to save it. 

3. Pollan and Berry both claim that “the deep problem standing behind all of the other problems of industrial civilization is ‘specialization…’”. This is saying that because society assigns people specific roles, we don’t need to think beyond them. We believe that only experts or people with higher power can solve this problem. This makes sense because people find it hard to imagine doing specific tasks because they always had it done for them. For example, Pollan points out how cheap fossil fuels lets others process and produce the food we eat. We simply go to the store and buy it. We don’t imagine ourselves to be the ones who harvest and produce the food. This gives us the mentality that making changes in our own lives to solve climate change would make no difference at all, since we can’t imagine ourselves doing it. This claim could also be untrue because the issue of climate change is something that affects everyone, and we all contribute to it one way or another. With that being said, if we are part of the problem, then we can be part of the solution. Things we do in our daily lives contribute to the warming of the planet, so if we all change those behaviors, then this crisis would continue to be lowered. If we keep the mentality that small changes would help the bigger problem, then we as a society can come together to solve this issue. People's roles in society won’t matter, and we won’t try to leave everything for the experts to handle. 

4. We can learn from Pollan’s essay that a good persuasive essay has a clear issue stated. Pollan answered the question of why we should bother to make change when others believe that there is no point. His goal was to persuade us to make change and he successfully did that. He provided good background information on why people don’t bother to change, and why it’s an issue. He then explained the reasons why we need to implement habits that will help our environment. He supported his argument with evidence that helps make the reader understand why this is important. In my essay, I will make sure to define a clear and specific problem with solutions to solve it. I will also make sure to have good evidence that makes the reader aware of the importance of the issue. 

A Problem in our Country

          A massive issue we face in America today is the high costs of healthcare. Many Americans can’t afford to pay for healthcare in this day and age. People who face chronic or severe illnesses can’t get the treatment that they need simply because they can’t afford it. This is a major issue because if someone develops a serious illness, they can go bankrupt from the cost of medical bills alone. According to the article “Is our Healthcare System Broken?” on the Hard Medical School website, the high costs mean many people risk losing all of their money if they need a lot of medical attention. This also goes for people who are uninsured or underinsured. The article points out how even if you make sure to ask about all of the medical bills, you still may end up with a surprise bill. Sometimes people never know how big of a bill to expect. The article, “The Burden of Medical Debt in the United States” explains how Americans owe a massive amount of money and are in deep medical debt. The article provides a graph that shows this. 

https://images.app.goo.gl/3zvbrmKi9rxmp65m7

This graphic proves that a large amount of money Americans owe in medical bills because of the high costs of healthcare. Over half the people in medical debt owe over $100,000 which would be extremely difficult to pay for. This is much more than the average yearly salary, so paying it all back while still paying for daily necessities could be nearly impossible. 

          A major cause of this issue is that the government does not want free healthcare for Americans. According to the website “FACT SHEET: The Congressional Republican Agenda”, the government does not want to give money to large corporations like health care companies. They want to spend little money, so that means that Americans will have to keep paying for their own healthcare. This is a huge reason America doesn’t have free healthcare yet. The government wants to save as much money as possible. In doing this, many Americans struggle with getting quality healthcare, or even any type of treatments at all. The safety and health of Americans should be a higher priority than money. 

        A solution for this problem would be to vote for candidates running for office that support lowering the cost of healthcare. There are many people who support acts that work to lower costs for those who need it. People need to do their research, and find the people in their area that will help America work towards free healthcare. Americans have a say in who runs the government so they should work to make their voice heard, and solve this issue. 

My Personal Mt. Rushmore

 My Personal Mt. Rushmore

      If I was tasked to create my own Mt. Rushmore I would had the new faces be the original main cast of the Netflix series Outer Banks. It would consist of Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Rudy Pankow, and Jonathan Daviss. Since it is my personal Mt. Rushmore, I would put these faces because Outer Banks is a show that is very special to me. It brings me lots of joy and comfort, and it has become a huge part of my life. It is very different from the actual Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Those faces are faces of historical figures in the United States. They are people who made a large impact on this country, and almost everyone that lives in America would know who they are. The people I want on my Mt. Rushmore are very well known, but definitely not to everyone. They made a large impact on my life and other fans of the show, but definitely not everyone in America. It’s much more personal to me and not to the whole country. I think what we can learn from my new Mt. Rushmore is that you should always find something in your life that is very important to you. It makes life so much more enjoyable when you have something you love and are passionate about. It’s very important to have people that you love and admire. It makes life so much more special and meaningful. 

On the Coming of John & Ted Talk

 On the Coming of John & Ted Talk

The dangers of a single story in Chimamande Adichie’s Ted Talk is that relying on one narrative can lead to negative stereotypes of a group of people. When people are only exposed to one story, they believe the whole of that group is represented by that one story. Oftentimes that story can be negative, and lead people to believe false things about a culture. It also doesn’t capture the diversity of a group of people. It doesn’t show the different human experiences people have, instead it only focuses on one experience or identity of that group. 

Nkali is loosely translated as “to be greater than another”. This world explains how people with greater power tell stories to shape people’s perception of what really happened. They’re able to twist the story to emphasize what they want people to know, and hide the things that will make them look bad. Those people can make their side of the story dominate while the other is diminished. This can lead to stereotyping and associating one identity to a group of people. Chimamande Adichie talks about how people reading one novel about a culture lead to them believing that that’s how everyone in that culture behaves. She points out how she read an American novel about a serial killer but would never believe that all Americans are killers. That is because there are so many novels about America, and it is not just one single story. This is why only telling a single story about a culture leads to stereotyping and a narrow view on that culture. 

I believe the most important idea of this talk is that we should never only look at a culture from a lense of one story. A lot of the time the story doesn’t do the culture justice, and doesn’t portray the different and unique aspects of it. No single story can capture the individuality and complexity of a culture. When people in power tell stories from a specific perspective that benefits them, it can lead to misinterpretations and disempowerment. This is unfair to the culture being diminished because their story isn’t being told correctly. We should always seek multiple perspectives and stories in order to fully understand the human experience. 

Part 2

In the story “Of the coming of John” there were two men named John that were from Altamaha. They both went to school and got an education. The story highlights the racial injustices and unfair treatment that black people face. When John Jones spends time in the north, he is exposed to ideas of equality and he is filled with optimism. He wants to make a change in the lives of people in the south. He wants to teach black youth and vouch for equality. That is very quickly shut down by those who don’t want to see black people succeed. John Jones continuously faces racism even after getting an education to be respected. John Henderson was a white man with the privilege to do anything he pleased. He was threatened by Jones’ education and determination. He continuously got in the way of change for the black community and wanted traditional racism to prevail. Because he is white and prevailed, he sees no issue of the oppression of the black community.

I think W.E.B Dubois chose to use a fictional story to prove that no matter how equal the playing field is for two people, racism will still get the best of them. He made the characters have the same name and background, but they were two different races. By doing this, it really emphasizes the hardships and unfair treatment black people receive just because of the color of their skin. John Jones’ life was faced with many more challenges than Henderson because of his race. Even though Jones had an education and was qualified to be trusted to make change, the people wouldn’t let him because of their racist views. By using fictional characters with very similar backgrounds, the author was able to capture the effects racism has on people.

            I believe after John Jones got an education he viewed life differently. Before his schooling, he was much more careless and immature, but he started to become more responsible after getting suspended. I think that was the push he needed to become the best version of himself. After getting an education, I think he expected to be respected and trusted to make change. He was exposed to equality in the north which inspired him to bring that idea to the south. I believe it made him view life in a new way, and that racism doesn’t have to be the way people in the south live forever. That’s what made him realize he needed to make that change. I believe education can change a person on a deeper level. It can increase their confidence and give them credibility when it comes to real life problems. It gives the critical thinking skills to make changes in people's lives for the better. It gives a sense of maturity and responsibility that makes a person a better version of themselves. 

In Chimamande Adichie’s Ted Talk she explains how people get stereotyped as one thing because of single stories. I believe that is shown in the story “Of the Coming of John”. People refuse to believe that a black man can make change or have a voice because of what they have been taught. They believe in white supremacy which led to black people being stereotyped as incompetent. I personally believe that black people have just as much of an impact as white people do, and that they should be able to share their ideas. Chimamande Adichie shared her stories about how she was always called an African, and people don’t hold that name to the highest of standards. That shows the stereotypes associated with black people and how it affects their lives.   

            According to the article “Jim Crow Laws” on the website pbs.org, Jim Crow laws were passed in the early 1890s. These laws forced the segregation of schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, trains, and restaurants. It was supposed to be “separate but equal” but that wasn’t the case. The white areas had better funding and resources. There was no way to separate the races but keep everything fair, and this led to racial discrimination and hardship. Black people felt humiliated and inferior because they couldn’t use the same facilities as white people. It was dehumanizing. Black people were faced with insults and harassment. Their lives could not compare to the lives of white people because of how excluded they were. Black schools had much less funding than white schools which led to black students getting a lower level of education. Overall, black people faced many hardships and difficulties as a result of Jim Crow Laws and the idea of white supremacy. 

Is My Smartphone Hurting Me?

 Is My Smartphone Hurting Me?

In the article “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation”, Jean Twenge explains how she believes that there have been many negative effects from smartphones and social media on this generation of teens. She believes that the excessive use of smartphones causes higher depression and anxiety rates. She also points out that it could be impacting teenagers' sleep schedules, causing sleep deprivation. On the other hand, researcher Sarah Rose believes that smartphones are not the cause of the teens mental health rates declining. In her blog post she explains that the only way to know for certain that cell phones cause depression, we’d have to conduct very specific experiments that would be quite difficult to do. Jean Twenge gives multiple statistics and examples that explain why she thinks smartphones are ruining this generation. She states that, “The more time teens spend looking at screens, the more likely they are to report symptoms of depression. Eighth-graders who are heavy users of social media increase their risk of depression by 27 percent, while those who play sports, go to religious services, or even do homework more than the average teen cut their risk significantly”. This quote demonstrates the data that proves spending time on phones increases the risk of depression. She explains that teens spend less time socializing with each other, but they are instead sitting on their phones in their rooms. She points out how teens feel lonely and left out because of this, especially because you can see when people hang out without you just by going on social media. Sarah Rose argues in her blog that Twenge only uses data that supports her claims. She says that she ignores the possibilities of other factors affecting depression rates. There are many things that could contribute to a teens mental health, not just smart phones. Rose points out how Twenge explained that teens have lower rates of alcohol use, teen pregnancy, smoking and car accidents. This statement was to support Twenge’s claim of teens not going out enough. Rose believes that this is not a bad thing, and definitely not what a “destroyed generation” looks like. All in all, Twenge believes that smartphones are the leading cause of teen’s depression and suicide rates, sleep deprivation, and lack of social skills. Rose disagreed with her statements, and instead believes that there are many other factors that contribute to this, and cellphones aren’t the only ones.

My personal experience with cell phones align more with Sarah Rose’s claims. When I first got my cell phone, it felt really normal after only a short time. I was surrounded by technology, and it seemed like I needed to have one. I never abused it or spent too much time on it because it didn’t seem like the whole world to me. I never had social media at a young age, which I am grateful for because it’s obviously not good for young kids that are growing up. Sarah Rose explained in her blog that sometimes cell phones can have positive effects. I agree with that because I used to see the phone as only entertainment. It would never mess with my mental wellbeing, or give me anxiety because I simply didn’t care enough about it. I was glad to have it though, incase of boredom. Now, I do find that I am on my phone quite a bit. The only downside to that is when it becomes a distraction to me when I’m trying to get work done. I never found that it impacted my happiness or mental wellbeing. If I had to stay away from it for a day though, I would most likely be bored not knowing what I should do. In Jean Twenge’s article she explains how the phone is very negative for kids and is hurting them mentally. I personally haven’t had any experiences like that. She states that it causes sleep deprivation but I believe that is only when people don’t have enough self discipline. Anything can become a positive if done in moderation and Sarah Rose supports that in her blog. 

I think the overall lesson about smartphones is that they should be used in moderation. Cell phones can have both positive and negative effects on people, and if focused on the positives, it could become a very beneficial thing. I believe smartphones shouldnt be given to young kids but should wait until they are mature and old enough to generally know what’s right for them. As long as we’re careful and aware of our cell phone usage, it shouldn’t damage us mentally. I think using data to make an argument helps persuade readers to believe it. Using data like statistics give examples that enhance the message you're trying to convey. Using factual evidence makes your writing more reliable and effective so the readers will be more likely to understand it. These articles both give factual evidence that supports their claims. This makes us more likely to believe it and take them seriously.