Should Death Be a Penalty?

The conservative view on this topic is that the death penalty is completely fine punishment. One main example that is commonly used is that if a murderer kills and takes someones life, he should also have his own life taken through ther death penalty. On the other hand, liberals are completely against the idea. They believe that it is better to just sentence the individual to a lifetime in jail, it is almost a worse punishment. But however bad the crime, nobody should be sentenced to death for what they have done. My view on the subject is that it is morally wrong, however, as much as I hate to admit it, I know if our country were to ever capture some terrorist that has killed so many people, my views might change. Overall, I am basically againsty it and I think often times people are sentenced to death without having proper evidence on their case. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and believe that they possibly can change their ways while in jail rather than just ending their life and not giving them a chance.

Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?

Abortion was my groups presentation topic, with Kelsey and I about conservative views and Ari and Kate with Liberal. Conservatives are pro-life on the topic of abortion. They do not feel that getting an abortion is morally correct and even view it as murder. They believe that no matter what stage the baby is in, it is still there and the pregnant lady must take responsibility for her own actions. On the other hand, liberal views on abortion are pro-choice. They think that the woman should be able to make the decision on their own whether or not they want to get an abortion. Many believe that it is okay to get an abortion before the third trimester because they baby is not very developed.
I am failrly moderate when it comes to abortion. I think it is extremely scary that the government could be able to control a womans body and whether or not she can get an abortion or not, so in that sense I am pro-choice. However, I also am a strong believer in taking responsibility for your actions, and if that means having the baby and giving it up for adoption so the baby can actually grow up in a decent and safe environment, then I think that is important. ANother situation is if a woman were to get raped and pregnant from a complete stranger, those are situations where I am more pro-choice than ever. Just if it were me, I can never see myself being able to actually follow through with getting an abortion, but of course it is hard to say because I believe it is an "in the situation" decision.

Legalizing Gay Marriage

The conservatives viewpoint on gay marriage is that it should not be allowed what-so-ever. This being said, many conservatives are of the catholic religion which relates to why they are against it. They believe that many would abuse this legalization to just marry their friends for money from the government. Liberals believe that gay marriage should be legal. They think that people should be able to marry whoever they want if it is true love. My view on this topic is that I do think gay marriage should be legal. It is not like they are not people too, and if they are in love with their partner then they should be able to show it through marriage just like everyone else. I definitely see why this is such a big controversy but I believe that true love is more important than the risks of legalizing.

Gun Control

On the topic of gun control, conservatives think that people should be allowed to have possession of a gun if they choose to do so. They believe that it is important for protection purposes and just as a very serious mean of safety. Even though their are 911 services available, many think that their would not be so many deaths because people could be able to protect themselves in their homes. However, liberals do not think that the possession of guns should be legalized. They view the possession of a weapon much more as a serious threat and believe that many people already misuse the privalege of having a gun. Their are many reasons to believe this true because of all the school shootings and murders.
I am also moderate in this situation. I know that if I was in a situation where i felt like i needed to use a weapon to protect myself and my family, it would be extremely hard, but the fact that it was their for self- protection would be the slightest bit comforting. I also don't think it is the best idea because as much as i do not want to believe it, their are so many messed up people in the world that will misuse the privalege of having a gun. I think it is scary that it is such an average thing in the south to just have a gun in the house. I believe that this is one of the situations that legal or not, people are going to find a way to get a gun if they really want one, just as though people used to preform illegal abortions.

Authentic Subculture? Not So Much.

It is hard to say what is authentic about our teen subculture because we are constantly changing our standards about what is socially acceptable. The more we are revealed to on television and through ads, makes us more susceptible to believing its okay. We are constantly building off of other culture items because of the American mindset that nothing is ever good enough. It is because of this that I do not really think we have much that we can call our own, strictly because everything that we have will eventually be transformed into something bigger, better, and or just more ridiculously outrageous so that we as Americans can keep highering our standards for the next big thing. This idea frustrates me because I wish I could be able to talk about what is truly authentic about the culture that I live in, but it is more complex than it seems. Advertisers only listen to us as teenagers to benefit their companies, and develop the next new thing, or build off and advance of something that is already probably fine as it is. All of the authenticity about our subculture just relates back to the standards that we create for society.

A Sad Reality

This is definitely a valid statement to make, and it is sad that they do only listen to us for the better of their product. Advertisers research people just so they can produce items that will sell and be popular. They want to know information about us not because they are interested in our generation as people, but to gather information on whats hot and what they can produce to become a hit. Since teenagers spend so much money, advertisers use us to figure out what their next product should be. In this generation, nothing is ever good enough, something always has to be bigger and better so the validity of this statement is sad, but also comepletely true.

The Way You Make Me Feel

"The Way You Make Me Feel" is my favorite Michael Jackson song. It's my favorite for a couple of different reasons. One is that it has an upbeat sound, and is one of those songs that you cant help but dance to. Though tough to decide on "The Way You Make Me Feel" as my favorite Michael Jackson song, because I really love all of his songs, its probably my favorite because it has history with my family and I. I remember growing up and listening to the song because my parents would be playing it. Once, I heard it for the first time on my own, and recognized the lyrics, knowing that i must have heard it somewhere else before. Sure enough, because my family are big Michael Jackson fans, they have been playing this song since its been out. I even bought this song as a ringtone for my cell phone. It just is one of those songs that puts you in a good mood no matter what. The lyrics dont necessarily "speak" to me or anything like that, but they do get me moving, and I believe that that it part of what music is suppossed to do. It probably also helps that "The Way You Make Me Feel" is definitely one of Michael Jackson's more popular songs, so it is played and talked about more frequently than the others. That is why that specific song by Michael Jackson is my all time favorite.

The King of Pop

It's hard to say whether or not Michael Jackson demonstrates the values of our society today. In some ways he shows the more sexual and provocative aspects of our society through his dancing and his lyrical content. There has definitely been controversy about Michael's dance moves, although many of them classics. However, he was one of the first artists to comfortably show sexual moves through dance, just like Elvis Presley. In this sence, Michael Jackson shows how the values of our generation today are not as strict, and their is more room for expression.
Their could also be a valid argument that Jackson has in no way shown the values of our generation. Yes, he has performed within the last 10 years, however, his main time is definitely over. That is why some may say it is impossible for somebody who has barely been musically present in the past 10 years can even matter in means of discussing our current societal values. Even though Michael Jackson has not really been producing hit singles currently, its definitely not like his name has been forgotten or not brought up in the media. With all of the controversy about the changing the color of his skin, to molesting little boys, Jackson is the classic example of a celebrity gone wrong, but yet, he still and ALWAYS will be a legend.

Music Throughout History

Everthing we have done is class this week has taught be about how music has not only influenced our culture, but changed alot throughut history. The main example that I can think of is Elvis. He was a teenager whose theme was teenage rebellion, and probably is one of the biggest artists of all time. Elvis brought black and white music together, and even demonstrated this by covering a black song. This brought alot of controversy because many people were still really hung up with Jim Crow laws and segregation. He also crossed a line that nobody seemed to have crossed before by dancin with his gyrating hips, duck walk, and using his guitar as a phallic symbol. His rock and roll blurs the boundary between masculinity and femininity. Elvis started anew generation of rebellion and because of this teenage girls all over were obsessed with him. He was definitely a reason for the rise in rock and roll popularity, even though he was criticized by many for his provocative ways, however, I believe that is half the reason Elvis's popularity was so soaring. Overall, rock and roll plays a bigger role in the growth of our country than I ever could have imagined.

My Favorite Group

My favorite group was N'sync and I first started to love them when I was about 5 years old. This was important because it was them who really started getting me into music, not just listening to the radio.