I have learned a lot over the course of the past few weeks. The three topics that I found most interesting were Media Censorship, Gay Rights, and Cancer.
I was never completely sure what media censorship actually meant until Skip and his expert talked to the class. “Media Censorship is the act of preventing the publication of news or information that is to be broadcast to the general public” (http://contempissues.wikispaces.com/Skip+-+Media+Censorship). I found it really compelling that the media has such a big influence over the way people think. I never thought about just how much the news can pick and choose what they decide to tell the general public. But there can be more than just news censorship; the government can also censor websites on the world wide web as well, various inappropriate websites such as porn.
Kate’s project about gay rights was also very informative. Her project brought a major issue to my attention, something that I had never thought about: Gay rights in Iran. As I watched her Animoto, I could not believe the things I saw. People in Iran are being hanged for being homosexual in Iran; that is shocking! The Iranian president even said that “[Iran] has no homosexuals” (Kate’s Animoto). Also 107 gays were executed between 1979 and 1990 in Iran (Kate’s Animoto). I just can’t believe that the government imposes their will so much as to not allow it's people to be public about their sexual orientation. We, as American's, should feel lucky about our Freedom of Speech/First Amendment Rights.
Lastly, Rachael’s topic focusing on cancer contained a lot of detailed information as well. She focuses on the general idea of cancer, the cost of cancer treatment and studies relating cancer to cell phones. A neat fact that I saw while reading Rachael’s blog was: “In a poll in 2002, it was estimated that about 555,500 Americans will die from cancer each year, corresponding to 1,500 deaths per day. That means that at least 1,400 of these people were children ages 0-14” (Rachael’s Blog, http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCl_Pub_interface/raterisk/rates39.html ]http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCl_Pub_interface/raterisk/rates39.html). This is just an overwhelming statistic. This brings me to think about how far medicine has already come to cure some cancer patients. Rachael did a good job of presenting her information on her Wiki Page and she had a lot of interesting information on her blog as well.
Even though all my classmates have taken a lot of time to research their topics, the three that I have mentioned above have interested me the most. I learned various different ideas and facts that I never knew or even thought about before.
Sources:
- http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCl_Pub_interface/raterisk/rates39.html ]http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCl_Pub_interface/raterisk/rates39.html
- Kate's Blog and Animoto
- Skip's Wiki Page and Glogster Poster: http://contempissues.wikispaces.com/Skip+-+Media+Censorship
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