I'm a criminal and so are you

In Journalism class, we read the article “I’m a criminal and so are you” by Michelle Alexander. This article was about a woman named Michelle expresses her feelings about how criminals have a second-class status and get denied full citizenship because they were felons but we are all criminals just like the felons but haven’t be branded for life. She talks about how everyone has broken a law once before but just because you haven’t been caught doesn’t mean you are any better than the felons that are branded for life. She believes people shouldn’t be discriminated because they are felons. One quote that stood out to me was, if you are a felon “You can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits -- forms of discrimination that we supposedly left behind.” This shows that discrimination is a real problem.

I think that felons should be able to have full citizenship because they already did the time in jail and most people learn from their experience in prison. If everyone got caught for breaking a law no one would be able to do anything. She stated in the article that “I doubt Barack Obama thinks of himself as a criminal, though he should. He has admitted to using illegal drugs during his college years -- lots, in fact.” If Barack Obama was caught for doing drugs in his college years, he wouldn’t even be our president today. This article makes me wonder are any of my teachers’ criminals, and what if they got caught would they still be teaching at my school. I agree with the article, it made me think about how I should be more careful about my decisions because they can have a big effect on my future. 

Photoshopped or Not? A Tool To Tell

   In Journalism class, we read the article “Photoshopped or not? A tool to tell” by Steve Lohr, a writer for the New York Times. This article was about two computer scientists, Dr. Farid and Eric Kee Ph.D. students, who want to create a software tool that lets you know how much a photo has be altered from a 1 to 5 scale range. As one being the least altered and five being the most altered. 

   The photographs of models and celebrities that are in magazines and bill boards are being buffed with Photoshop. Photoshop helps you retouch the photo to make a pimple go away or to brighten it and other editing tools. The article includes quotes from computer science professors and professional photo editors. A survey was taken in women’s magazine and readers said they want celebrities to “look great but real.” This shows that it’s better for people to be their natural beautiful self rather than to display something they aren’t. 

   I think that super-skinny, overly perfect images of women in magazines, the internet, and TV encourage eating disorders and low self-esteem because they see perfect bodies and faces and they want to be just like what the pictures they see. These models and celebrities are portraying the wrong things into peoples head because they think that they are really perfect they actually aren’t. If they see people on magazines with perfect bodies they might start eating less and do other things to make their body look like what they see. I think that altered images should be labeled so that those who look at magazines can know how much the image has been changes because it would make people feel better about themselves and it could build their self esteem. 

In journalism class, we read the article “In China, Human Cost Are Built Into an iPad” by Charles Duhigg and David Barboza in The New York Times. This article was about how works in the assembling iPads, iPhones and other Apple devices and accessories, work under harsh conditions, unsafe buildings and lack of safety equipment. The article includes quotes from plant works and safety and health experts. One thing that stood out to me was that employees were working 24 hour shifts and was standing all day until the point where their legs were swollen. This shows that they weren’t getting treated with respect.

          This article changed my expectations on Apple. Before, I thought Apple was a good company and that they were the best in the game. Now I think they should change they work environment or people may stop buying their supplies when this news gets around. I think is an important topic because lots of people buy Apple produces and they might second think their choice when people find out about how they’re treating their works. If people began to protest and stand against Apple I believe Apple will make their buildings safer and treat employees better.

          This article makes me think that many companies go to China and build factories because they know that Chinese people would work under them kind of circumstances that Americans won’t. If they just stand up for themselves and have protests against the way they have been treated I believe they could make a change. I always wondered why everything always says “Made in China” and I believe this is the reason.