Discussion- Personal Opinions

Please see attachment

 

Personal Opinions, state whether you agree and your thoughts on the responses to the questions.

 

Between 50-100 words each responses or longer if you have more too say

 

Due Sunday at 12PM or sooner please

1-Is cancer hereditary, environmental, or both?  Explain how genetics may be linked to certain types of cancer, how the environment might be linked to certain types of cancer, or how both may play a role.  Be sure to define the cause (if it is a genetic mutation, describe the mutation) and the type of cancer in your reply.

Response

Cancer can be linked both to hereditary genes and to the environment. Though mutated genes being passed down to family happens, it does not automatically mean that person will develop cancer or even receive the gene. Family members usually share the same environment (sunny location, tobacco use, etc.) which creates similar consequences. If your parents smoke and you are subject to second hand smoke, you will be at greater risk for lung cancer. Likewise, if you live in Florida and sunbath often because your family goes to the beach every weekend, you are at greater risk for melanoma skin cancer.

2-As the use of genetically modified food increases, the debate about the benefits and concerns also grows.  Choose a side on this debate and explain one way that genetic modication of food is helping or hurting our society. Would you consider a piece of fruit is labeled “GM” for genetically modified safe to eat if you encountered it in the grocery store?

Response

What is wrong with fruit and vegetables grown the old fashioned way? I get that it is financially beneficial for companies but I don’t care about them. This is science trying to “fix” what is not “broken”. Just leave well enough alone. Yes, I would want my produce marked if it were genetically modified, so I would know not to buy it. I don’t believe any of the guests are agenda free. I think they are either employed by companies trying to increase profits by using genetically modified seeds, or on the pay roll of environmental activist groups to prove that those modifications are bad. I understand and mildly advocate the use of pesticide (such as insect resistant cotton) because you obviously don’t want crops being ruined or infected by bugs. As far as cotton, being that it is not food, I don’t see any problem with insect resistant modifications.

3-How did the rules related to elections change between 1890 and 1913?  What were the positive and negative consequences of the change?

With the Progressive era many changes came regarding elections. Progressives proposed a clean up in the government ,such as: attacking voting allegiances between US Senators and railroad industry, introduced the direct primary, obtained equitable taxes. They also introduced the Australian Ballot, that gave voters the privacy and avoid frauds. The negative unintended consequences was that private vote became an obstacle for many illiterate immigrants in the north and to African Americans in the south.  In addition to those negative consequences there were enormous effort by southern states to disenfranchise African American.

4-What changes occurred in the rules related to Southern elections beginning in 1890, and what impact did these changes have on Southern politics?

Response

In 1890 the disfranchisement of African American voters began.  There were many electoral challenges and an expense of buying votes along with fraud, and violence. This provoked Southern Democrats to amend voting laws in order to exclude African-Americans without violating Fifteenth Amendment. In Mississippi, a residency, two-dollar poll tax and literacy requirements took place. This eventually led to mostly white voters in Democratic primaries. Some laws existed that disfranchised men who were convicted of minor offenses like vagrancy or bigamy. The goal behind these changes was to keep out poor, illiterate minorities from the polls. Moreover, local election officials were given discretion of implementing the voting requirements that benefitted whites and harmed the minorities and the poor. The implemented laws worked. After 1890, in Mississippi less than 9,000 out of 147,000 African Americans were registered to vote. Similarly in Louisiana the number of African American voters decreased from 130,000 to 1,342. In conclusion, these changes disfranchised African-American voters until the 1960s. The numbers of electoral participants were low and Southern Democrats dominated the face of southern politics.

5-What determines a voter’s selection (choice) on election day?

Most people believe that what drives vote is party identification. ” The strength and direction of party identification are the central importance in explaining political attitudes and behavior( such as voting)” .Niemi and Weisberg  explain that the role of incumbency, media influence, state of the economy and group attachments are factors that explain vote choice. Achen and Bartels explains that community’s pain and pleasure are keys determinants on vote choice.

6-What role (if any) do emotions play in drug use? Relate to Jim Carrol in Basketball Diaries

1 Response:

People use drugs for a variety of reasons. Some use drugs as an escape from the reality they are experiencing which may include such things as emotional or physical abuse, childhood trauma, self-esteem issues and/or family problems. All of reasons are emotional. That is not to say that everyone who chooses to abuse drugs does so because they are looking to escape reality. Some people try drugs just because they are curious or because they have access to them. However, I’m sure that a large number of addicts will admit that their drug abuse began due to emotional reasons.

Jim Carrol’s story is further proof of this.  He had quite of few emotional issues which prompted him to seek solitude in drugs.  Determined to be a basketball star, Carrol used drugs as a way to cope with the out of control circumstances he was experiencing in his life.  Without a father in his life and a distant relationship with his mother, he didn’t have a support system to help him cope with such things as his coach’s inappropriate behavior and his best friend dying of leukemia.  However, as the vicious drug cycle goes, in order to sustain his habit, he was forced into even more despair.  He began robbing, stealing and prostitution in order to get more drugs.

2nd Response:

Victoria Maxwell’s quote is very interesting and surely valuable! I remember back in high school dealing with a lot of pressure being a cheerleader. The other cheerleaders were partying and sleeping with the football team, comparing their beauty with others, and degrading those who were not “popular” like them. I was a cheerleader as well, though sickened by the attitudes that surrounded me. I began to feel insecure and inadequate. My best friend one week would turn to be my worst enemy the next week. It was tough. Politics in school were tough and left me feeling low about myself. For this reason, I can easily sympathize with Victoria Maxwell’s words. What you feel inside is simply a perception of what is going on around you. What you feel inside when you are suffering depression is not the truth about yourself. 

Jim Carrol began the use of drugs as a curiosity, then built more into drug abuse based upon his current lifestyle and the loss of his best friend. He struggled within himself through politics in school as well. Unfortunately, he simply turned to drugs to feel more adequate in life. I think living in a single household is surely a difficulty as well. It is hard for a single mother to be there for her child when she is struggling to make ends meet. This happens throughout the world on a regular basis. Women struggle in poverty, leaving their children all alone to depend on themselves for comfort. Women are the most oppressed in the world and suffer the most when left alone. Jim Carrol also suffered. He suffered with not having the mental and emotional support from himself and from those closest to him. Therefore, Victoria Maxwell’s quote relates whole heatedly to Jim Carrol. I do not believe that he would have turned to drugs if it weren’t for his inner struggles. 

7- It is believed that gays and homeless people tend to abuse Alcohol more than straight (heterosexual) and non-homeless populations.  Identify two reasons why you think each of the members of these two subcultures have a tendency to over-consume alcohol.

1-Response

An article written by Jerome Hunt,

“Making Sense of The LGBT Community’s High Rate of Substance Abuse”

  he cites a CDC study saying that about 25 percent of gay and transgender people abuse alcohol as opposed to the 5 or 10 percent of the general population. The article points to stress of societies prejudice and discrimination, a gap in health care treatment and marketing. After continued reading and talking with a couple of friends who are gay they stated that the marketing of gay bars and feeling of being safe from discrimination while in the bars and clubs may add to this percentage. According to the

National Interagency Council on Homelessness

substance abuse is consequence and a leading factor to homelessness and continued homelessness. The lack of stable housing and support makes treatment and recovery much more difficult. That coupled with the addiction being the cause of homelessness make the numbers of homeless people who are abusing alcohol staggering.

2nd Response

(I just want to throw out there that I sincerely hope my opinions don’t offend anyone.  These are simply my speculation on the given topic.)

I think most people in our society who suffer with internal conflict have a tendency to lean a little harder of liquor.  Between its accessibility and its wide social acceptance you can see why people find it so easy to drown their problems.  It’s unbelievable to me that gays are still mistreated and unaccepted in parts of this country or anywhere in the world for that matter.  I’d struggle to believe that genetically a homosexual is predisposed to alcoholism, if statistically gays are over-consuming liquor it’s brought on by society.  I can see the parallel between the homeless and the homosexuals abusing liquor because they both struggle with social acceptance and an enormous amount of prejudice.  People tend to pass judgment on the homeless almost instantly with zero justification, and sadly that’s something that homosexuals deal with as well.  I think society, in some cases, wants both of these subcultures to feel an immense amount of guilt.  People have attempted push them away as outcasts and treat them like second rate citizens their whole lives.  Feeling isolated and cut off from society is reason enough to abuse any drug, so I can’t blame them for turning towards a substance for help. Another factor may be that gay men who are strictly living in the closet show much higher rates of anxiety and depression than their heterosexual counterparts. (Openly gay men actually show less anxiety than heterosexuals)  Alcohol has been known to combat anxiety and has similar effect on the brain as most benzodiazepines.  Perhaps their abuse of the liquor is more of an attempt at self-medicating.  Mental illness is incredibly common amongst the homeless as well, so it’s not surprising that they may too find relief in the sedative qualities of alcohol.