position

Brittany and Madonna kissed? As I read the article about their shocking lip lock, one reporter’s view caught my eye. He regarded it as a desperate attempt to make up for lost record sales on the musicians’ latest albums. Wow! The music industry sure has changed in the last decade. Instead of judging with our ears, publicity suggests that Americans today cannot judge music without their eyes as well. It is impossible to ignore the media attention given to musicians today for reasons other than would be expected. Their music may be unheard, but their image rings loud and clear. What is responsible for this recent shift in musical appeal?

One theory is that the audience has changed a lot throughout its history and this is just another example of that. Music popularity and tendencies depend mainly on current events and vary with listener appeal. It began as a religious expression during a period when religion was at its peak. Since then, society has changed a lot! During the jazz era, the audience was filled with people of all ages who were sincerely interested in the music because of its fresh sound and affiliation with their lifestyle. During the Vietnam War, protest songs became popular to match the audience of soldiers and their families whose emotions were reflected. Today, there seems to be no defining factor.

We are not at war and religion is at an all time low. So what directed our music to become so indifferent to the musical aspects it has always carried in the past? The answer seems simple. The audience the music industry must please is a new type of listener. It is directed at today’s society whose emphasis is on image. This new “edge” of music, although unmusical, is a reflection of that superficial outlook. In order to keep music interesting to today’s materialistic audience, it has to change with the times. This merely demonstrates a fresh example of a pattern of style amendments music has become accustomed to over the years.

Many also blame technology for the sudden shift. With all of the recent advancements in computers and the equipment used by musicians, it is easy to see the logic in this. Talent is optional. Music videos and visual music media have taken the emphasis away from the sound and put it on the image portrayed. Sadly, if you have the “right look” you can now be signed by a record company regardless of your musical ability. Machines have the capability to alter voice to perfection and keyboards can generate sounds equivalent to musical instruments. This makes it impossible, sometimes, to distinguish between musicians and actors. Then, does it really matter how musical the musician is when we judge their sound? It is the ethics of what music was built on that makes me question that. To me, music should contain the same musical talent that was essential to its birth as an art. However that may not be possible in another decade of advancements in this technology dependent field.

Others view our recent interest in the unmusical aspects of music to today’s society’s obsession with sex and need for individuality. Our society’s lack of moral has made immorality and promiscuity not only acceptable, but essential for artistic success. You can’t turn on a television show, a radio station, or read an article without noticing it. With so many artists to compete with for air time, every artist must comply with the unwritten rule that every rule must be broken. If it’s been done a million times before, it isn’t going to sell now! The logic is painfully truthful.

This adds a new requirement for music, an edge. For female artists, showing skin and seductive dancing is just all part of the job of being a musician. Without it, it is much more difficult to compete to be noticed. And where would artists like Marilyn Manson be without their image? The fact is, with so many different artists competing for attention, extreme individuality and sex appeal have become a crucial part of being heard. Even a professor at Berklee College of Music said, “Music is now 90% image and only 10% music.”

It seems clear that none of these theories can account for the complete shift in music from the notes and rhythms that comprise sound to the publicity stunt it is today. It is a result of a complex combination of the need to please a new type audience, increased technology dependency, and the influence of society’s unruly expectations.

But the importance doesn’t lie in why it has changed, but it how it has and will continue to affect us as listeners. While on the surface it seems to have gained higher expectations, the quality of music is actually being degraded. What used to be a profession of gifted men and women is melding into the equivalence of an acting career. Our indifference has to change to revive the art of music. This growing media influence forecasts a grim future for those artists who actually care about musical composition. In order to save the music industry we must begin to listen to music again instead of letting our preferences be just a reflection of what we see in the media. In short, video killed the radio star.

    If you had the chance to replicate your recently deceased two-year-old, would you? Some people feel that cloning because of death or for infertility reasons is not moral and against God’s wishes. Put yourself in the shoes of parents of lost loved ones or the loving couples unable to have children of their own. You would find cloning to be the answers to all of your prayers.   Cloning is the answer to numerous medical and social problems in the world today. It deals with medical and emotional issues.
    Cloning is the replication of a living organism. This is done by the manipulation of cells and DNA, creating an exact replica of the desired organism. The organism appears to be the same as the original, but its environment throughout time changes the individual into possessing fairly different personalities, beliefs, and thought processes. Although there hasn’t been any report of a successfully cloned individual, one is in the process right now. As for animals, we have replicated cats, sheep, and many other species of living things. Cloning has numerous benefits and a few drawbacks, but although there have been complications, mastering the cloning process can widen the possibilities of science and medicine, making the world a better place.
     Cloning raises much controversy because it takes many cells and fetuses to complete a clone, which means that many births would end up as abortions or stillbirths. The good cloning would do would outweigh the bad. Many feel like it is comparable to killing a living person. It also raises issues of questioning whether or not it is ethically right to have clones running around, or whether or not we have the ability to produce the “perfect” child.
I don’t see anything wrong with using some extra cells to create a person who can be helpful to the human race, potentially smarter, and cured of certain diseases. Making a clone this way can create children for families who can’t have healthy children the old-fashioned way.
    It would be bad to have clones of people that are still living. There are identical twins out in the world; it can be comparable to their lifestyles. Technically, a pair of clones would be genetically identical to a pair of identical twins. People can still have individuality in the world. Cloning will not change the personality differences that come from one’s environment. Even though the clones would be identical, some people see cloning as a way to produce the perfect child. Changing the genetics of one’s future child would only make people smarter, and increase the production of new cures, discoveries, and the bettering of our society.
     Cloning could help to solve the problem of a recently deceased loved one. By cloning, the families and friends can remember that person by seeing traits of the individual in the clone. Although their personalities and behavior will not match up perfectly, their presence can help ease the pain of the death. The opposing view to this process would be that it might be awkward for the family to see a replica of the dead person, say for instance it was somebody’s husband. Would the clone who looks like the husband be the wife’s son? Families can work through these problems because, like I said before, there will still be personality changes in the individual. A clone can be an answer to dealing with the loss of a loved one.
    Eventually, cloning could cure some genetic diseases like Down’s Syndrome and AIDS. Fewer deadly diseases will be passed hereditarily. I feel very strongly about the medical aspects of cloning because diseases like AIDS are pandemics across the world, especially in underprivileged areas. Cloning could lesson the amounts of children being born with the deadly disease. Children known to have HIV or AIDS are given away to shelters or put up for adoption to die on their own. This is a huge problem, and cloning would help make less suffering for the future and decrease the number of children who are thrown to the side because of their disease.
     Cloning has had many examples and experiments involving it. Dolly the sheep was part of an experiment, and was the fist animal to be cloned. There have been some drawbacks involving cloning experiments with animals that were hard to develop a replica for. The sheep was found to age much faster than it was supposed to, most likely due to the older age of the sheep cells dolly’s DNA were replicated from. If scientists could work out all of the kinks in the cloning process, we would be good to go to step into a new medical age. Human cloning research could also help doctors to determine the cause of spontaneous abortions, give us an understanding of the rapid cell growth of cancer, allow the use of stem cells to regenerate nerve tissues, and advance work on aging, genetics, and medicines. These aspects can change the world of birth, and evolve some of the health problems people are faced with daily. I think that all of these aspects would make the world a better and healthier place.
    Cloning for reasons of creating children for gays and lesbians is a great way for them to have children together because they are physically not able to otherwise. If they can love each other like a straight couple, they should be allowed to share parenting and being a family like the rest of the world as well. Some people feel that if God wanted gays to have children then he would have given them the ability to be able to. Would people who oppose cloning for issues of gay rights take sterile couples away from the chance to reproduce? I think that if straight couples are allowed to reproduce, gay couples should be allowed to as well.
     There are moral arguments about the process of cloning. It involves the extraction of many fetus cells from many fetuses. This is seen as an ethically wrong procedure. In the long run, these cells are used to produce organs and develop children that have recently died. The fetuses would be saving the lives of many dying people with fatal conditions, as well as helping to cure disorders and diseases. There is also the issue of it being right according to God. Saving the life of a human being would be right in God’s eyes.
     Cloning is the path to a new tomorrow. We can better the quality of our healthcare, our children’s futures, and our way of life. It is a new way to remember our loved ones, a way to create what we always hoped for in our children. Cloning can better the world in many aspects. Would you clone a loved one if you had the chance?

     “RETARD!!! YOU’RE SO GAY! WHY DON’T YOU GO HANG YOURSELF!” One way or another, we have all been caught saying these phrases to another person, mostly taking it as a joke between friends. But, what about the person who does not take it jokingly? What about the person who is prosecuted by taunts and teasing constantly and is being told these things literally? We are all guilty of this. At one point and time, we have taken granted the feelings of another individual and ridiculed them so we could get a laugh and feel good about ourselves. The rights of this individual have been violated and scarred by the constant jokes of who they are. Is there a set of unlisted rights that a person has that every human subconsciously knows about, but purposely ignores? I believe there is.
     The rights of any student at any school are to be respected and acknowledged, no matter what the person looks or acts like, or what he/she wears or says. People should not be biased to each other because someone is “different” and not the “norm” of the crowd. We are so quick to judge because someone’s hair is green and another’s clothes are different. It is wrong to be irked by one little thing because it is unfair and unjust to the individual to be judged by appearance. Even when we know who the person is, it is still insulting to tantalize because they cannot change who they are.
     Since we were little and taught to socialize with each other, there has always been that one outsider who we pick to tease just because he wasn’t like us, and we ostracized him from the main clique. But why is that the opposite from what we were taught? Isn’t the golden rule, “treat others like you would want to be treated.” Why is that not one of the commandments or amendments that one should follow? Why do we take an innocent victim and put their feelings on display to others just to crush them? Why, as bystanders, do we let this all happen? We all know that what others do at the expense of another is wrong, but we laugh as if we don’t know it is wrong. Is that the only thing that we can do? Do we know what teasing is?
     Teasing has a variety of classification and some cases we have learned to build a tolerance and almost overlook the little things that bother some. Sometimes it is a mimic of someone because they have a weird voice or they said something that was extreme. It wasn’t wrong of them to speak their mind and it’s not their fault of what voice they have, be it squeaky, high pitched, shaky, or odd. For someone to express their mind should be rewarded and not dethroned. Once that first insult is said it is more then likely that that person won’t take that chance again and forever be self-conscious of their voice.
     Another view of taunting is the question of someone’s sexuality because of something they don’t talk about or because of the way they present themselves. Someone once said that adolescence is a time of “storm and stress” - perfect definition for someone who is ridiculed through a time where they and their peers are trying to find out who they are. This is just made worse by their rights being put on the back burner and their self-confidence exposed to the pestering of the ignorance of others. Since being gay is deemed as an unwanted trait in our society, it is one of the first things that a person uses to take down the confidence of another. It is one’s first tool of resource when he needs to make a crack about someone or prove to friends that he can irk an individual. The truth is that this kind of tooling can ruin and destroy someone’s life. The outcome is a scarred person who is confused because they don’t know why this is happening to them and the undeserved pride that someone has because he made fun of another.
     Other consequences that teasing and ridicule have are the uncontrollable lashing of the victim on their predators, and the effects on innocent people who didn’t have anything to do with them. For example, the multiple school shootings that we, as a country, have had over the years. The major one that made the most impact was, of course, Columbine. Two seniors, known as Klebold and Harris, were continually taunted by their peers because they were different from the crowd. They wore black trench coats, were interested in things that students considered weird, and were harassed by others because they had become a moving target. Their solution? To open fire against the students of Columbine High School. If they had been treated with respect, could the massacre have been prevented? If they had been accepted for who they were and not alienated, would the killing have occurred? These answers probably could have been answered by Klebold and Harris themselves if they hadn’t committed suicide after they were finished with their revenge. This example just proves that our jokes and ridicule not only take an effect on the person who is the butt of the joke, but a toll on everyone who is involved.
     Can things like Columbine be prevented if someone makes a stand for another’s rights and steps in the middle of a taunt to protect someone? Yes, they can. The question though is – is it easier for the peer to make the sacrifice or is it easier for a professional or teacher to intervene? Most times teachers are not aware of the inside world of a high school. Yes, they are around observing the protective layer but, inside this sphere, is a world that cannot be reached. From personal experience, one should reach out for a teacher. With the help of one, problems can be solved, and dilemmas can be prevented. A teacher can also provide the comfort that one is afraid to surrender to a parent or a friend. A teacher can be used as a neutral ground who will not judge you or think less of you because you are the target of so many things. They can help you and possibly change your life.
     But. certain occasions should be handled by the students alone. You cannot run to a teacher every time you have a problem and every time you feel threatened by another. At one point you need to defend yourself and lean on others for support. There will always be someone whom you can trust and call upon for help when you feel attacked. You just have to think that poetic justice will be served. One who takes it upon himself to go out of the way to ridicule someone will soon receive the consequences for what he has done.
     The point is that there should not be a worry or distress in the back of someone’s mind about getting teased because they do not belong to the popular clique, they do not act like the majority does, or because they just have their own individuality. A student body should not be biased towards another group because of an appearance or a quality that they do not possess. We need to build a tolerance and a general respect where anyone can just walk into a place and not be worried about these things. There should be a carefree environment where all are equal and treated fairly. We need to sign a personal contract to ourselves not to judge, but to acknowledge and accept. If one does, then another will follow. Are you up to the challenge?

     The game everyone had been looking forward to for the first 13 days of the Winter Olympic games in Salt Lake City, Utah was the gold medal hockey game between the United States and Canada. This match up was one that had been in the making since the Olympic teams were picked in September of last year. The anticipation of the game was only surpassed by the horrific game play of the United States. This was their game to win. The US showed that it could be beat anyone as they went 3-0 during the prelims. They were outplayed not only physically but also mentally. The Canadians won the gold medal game 5-2 against a US team that hadn’t lost a game on home ice in 70 years. The United States men hockey team blew the gold medal game against our neighbors to the north.
     One reason why the Canadians won the gold medal over the Americans was the pride the two nations had. From the national anthems on, it was apparent that the Canadians were more emotional than the USA. During the national anthems, the Canadians eyes watered as if they were not only playing for their country, but also playing for their freedom. The only sport that Canada has over anyone else is the sport of hockey, and everyone on that Canadian team knew that. They were not about to lose the only sport they had to their neighbors to the south.
On the other hand, the US team showed no emotion during the national anthem or at any point during the game. To them it was just another game. They showed up to the rink in Salt Lake thinking that they were going to win because they were Team USA, and they were playing on home ice. This is a perfect comparison to the miracle on ice in 1980 between the USA and Team Russia. Although the skill levels were much closer in the US-Canada game, it was as though the Canadians were the US and the US were Russia. The Canadians were a team that needed a win because they were always in the shadow of the US for everything, and this was their chance to prove that they were better than the Americans at something. To Russia in 1980, it was just an exhibition match to the gold medal match against Sweden, and when the Americans won, it was not only a great feat for sports, but also politically it was important because we needed to beat the Russians at everything and anything we could to prove our supremacy over the Communists.
     Another important reason why Canada won the gold medal was because of the outstanding goaltending by Canadian goalie Martin Brodeur. Martin played an amazing game - stonewalling all of the American snipers. He ended up making 32 saves. On many of those 32 saves, Brodeur had to stop point blank shots that seemed as though they were destined to go in. He was standing on his head and representing his country well. American forward Tony Amonte had at least 5 shots and Brodeur was amazing making saves even Amonte couldn’t believe. Not to say that the American goalie Mike Richter played badly, but Brodeur clearly outplayed him in this particular game, almost single handily beating the Americans.
     One important factor that got these two teams into the finals was the athletic ability of the two teams. From the beginning of the tournament they were the two teams that were expected to be in the gold medal game, the reason being that they were the only two teams with their roster full of all NHL players. These players are the best in the world so naturally the team with the most would win; both teams had the top ten leading scorers from the NHL on their rosters. Although the Canadians had the slight edge in talent, the gold medal game was going to be won by whoever wanted it more. The only other team that had a lot of NHL players was Team Russia, and as you can see, the three teams finished 1-2-3.
     Another factor in the final game was communication. Both teams communicated well, but the Canadians just were a little more talkative. Not that this alone had a big role in the game, but the Canadians did all the little things while the USA didn’t. During points in the game the Americans were lazy and a man came up from behind the puck carrier and took the puck away from them. That could have been prevented by a fellow teammate telling the puck carrier that someone was coming on him. The Canadians always seemed to know where everyone was on the ice, and that wasn’t just luck; that was constant communication by the Canadian player’s at all times.
     Next you have to compare the two countries involved- the United States and Canada. Both nations have been the top two hockey powers for a couple years now, producing dozens of NHL players and top-level junior teams. Both of these two nations have always been competitive with each other but always in a friendly way and as long as this continues the competition is going to get better and better. Another comparison between the two countries is that, when it comes to sports, both countries have their pro sports and are very much into sports. Most countries aren’t the same as these two when it comes to promoting sports.
     To contrast these two countries, you would find very little that the two countries differ in. The most notable difference between the two countries is the land size to population ratio. While Canada is much bigger then the United States, they have a little more then half the population of the United States. The US is smaller but has a larger population then Canada. This means that USA has more talent to pick from because they have more people playing hockey. Until about the 70’s hockey was never big in the United States, then all of the sudden it picked up, and everyone started playing hockey. Hockey has always been big in Canada and has always been the main and premier sport that everyone played. It might upset some Canadians that the US started to pick up hockey so late and that they have increased in skill at a faster rate to catch up to the Canadians so quickly. Another difference between the two countries is that the Americans have always been the best at every sport in every league, while the Canadians only have hockey; it was the last thing they had over the US.
     When the two teams were on their respective blue lines listening to the national anthem, the Canadians were so emotional you had to know that they were going to win the game. The United States looked like they didn’t care about the game. My coach once told me that, if you lined up the best and worst teams in the league, you wouldn’t see much physical difference, but all the emotional difference. I don’t know if you might have heard of him, his name is Wayne Gretzky. Another good example of heart and desire is when the two teams went into the 2nd Intermission with team USA down 3-2. The United States should have come out fired up and ready to play as hard as they could, but the team that came out to play was Canada.
     In conclusion, there was no big difference between these two teams. The difference in the game was that Canada did all the little things that people who aren’t really into hockey might not notice. If the USA got another shot against Canada, they might do things a little differently and end up winning the game.

     Some people feel it’s completely wrong, while others feel it’s right. I don’t always feel it’s the right thing to do. Abortion is a topic debated all over the world. Abortion is expelling a fetus from the womb before it is able to live. The abortion process usually takes place after little or no development has occurred, but can be done after the fetus has begun development. There are many different reasons that people decide to have abortions and many strong feelings for or against abortion. Some people aren’t strictly for or against it like me. There are some situations where I feel abortion is ok and some situations where I do not feel that it is ok.
     The first situation where I feel it is wrong to have an abortion is when people use it as a form of birth control. Some people decide not to use birth control for various reasons. When they choose not to use birth control they should realize the risk they are taking. They most likely will become pregnant. This is morally wrong. Expelling the fetus before it has a chance to become a human and live is just like killing someone who is already alive and living. Although the baby isn’t born yet, you should still feel like it is a part of you, and your life and should want to have it and take care of it. It’s a matter of taking care of your responsibilities. Once you’re pregnant it’s your baby, and you are responsible for its well-being.
     Abortion is unnecessary for other reasons. If a couple knows they cannot support a baby financially or emotionally they should take action to prevent becoming pregnant. If you talk with your partner about how you would deal with having a child you will find out if you are ready for that next step, being a parent. In doing this you’ll know before you’re pregnant whether or not you want to have a child instead of waiting till your pregnant and then deciding to have an abortion. These days there are plenty forms of birth control available for people who are not ready to have children. The same thing goes for couples that get pregnant and then realize how much trouble they’ll be in with their parents when they find out or how much work it would be to raise a child.
     Like I said before I don’t always disagree with abortion. This is because there are many reasons for a possible abortion. It is not always a women’s choice to become pregnant, and healthy babies aren’t guaranteed. In situations like this you should have a choice. I realize that a woman has a right to do what she wants with her body, but when it involves killing another human, it just isn’t the same.
     Abortion is also ok for rape. A woman does not intend to be raped and, in turn, does not intend to become pregnant. If a woman becomes pregnant from being raped, she might not even know who the biological father of her child is. Emotionally this women is probably dealing with enough stress and maybe even depression from being raped and she isn’t in a good state of mind to be having a child. In the future the child could become a reminder of the fact that she was raped, and she’s most likely not ready to deal with that.
     Another example would be if doctors found that your baby would be born with a disease or illness that prevents it from knowing it’s alive. I’m not talking about things like down syndrome where this person could live a completely normal life. I mean if the baby wont live long and wont know that it is alive. If the child wont know that it has lived than it would save the parents from a lot of pain, and emotionally stress. For example, one of my cousins was born with a disease where he grew really slowly, couldn’t talk, and couldn’t hold up his head by himself even when he was 4 years old. Although I loved my cousin and my aunt and uncle, it was extremely hard to see him live like that. I couldn’t tell if he was in pain or what he felt because he couldn’t express himself. It was also a very hard time for my aunt and uncle. If they had known that he wouldn’t have been able to live and how short of a life he would have, they could have avoided seeing him suffer.
     Sometimes it can truly be beneficial to someone’s health and well being to have an abortion. Other times, it’s a matter of not taking care of responsibilities. Choosing to use abortion as birth control wastes doctors’ time that
could be spent helping people. It also costs money. If people think things through and talk about what they’ll do if they get pregnant, they’ll be more prepared and more likely to take their decisions seriously. Abortion is a serious decision to make. Once you decide to abort the fetus, you can’t get it back. These are some of the reasons I feel the way I do about abortion. It is such a serious topic that it really needs to be thought about before someone is pregnant. There are also spontaneous abortions which are like miscarriages and things that cannot be prevented. Simply thinking before we act can prevent unnecessary abortions.