Review of "The Help", discrimination and our favorite: equal rights

We recently saw the movie The Help. This movie was amazing; so many of the oppressive norms that were prevalent during the 1950s and 1960s were displayed during this film. First, women were not supposed to have careers. They were supposed to stay in their kitchens and be good little housewives. This norm is disgusting, sexist, and chauvinistic. The second oppressive norm was evident with the treatment of African Americans in Mississippi. African American women worked as maids for pocket change during the 1960s. In this time period, African Americans were beaten or killed just for speaking their minds. The Help was an excellent portrayal of the struggles that women had to endure during the 1960s. The women in The Help fought back against their racist oppressors. They spoke their minds to overcome bigotry in Mississippi during the 1960s. It was an extremely inspirational film, and it set an example for those people in America that are victims of racism and hatred.

What worries us today is that many of the norms of the 1950s and 1960s are resurfacing in America. For example, state legislatures are restructuring voting rules which will make it more difficult for minorities to vote. Other states are racially profiling Hispanic children who are trying to attend primary and secondary schools. In addition, people on the streets are being racially profiled for just looking a certain way. Last but not least, the Equal Rights Amendment which would give women complete equal rights in America, has continued to fail ratification. Federal courts will ultimately handle many of these problems. However, American society needs to overcome racist norms of the past. Most people in the United States descend from European immigrants. When various European ethnicity's migrated to America, they were harshly discriminated against. However, these immigrants were the backbone of America. They worked in factories, they built our cities, and they spilled blood during the World Wars.


A perfect example of the racism and bigotry that was just discussed is evident with this picture which was recently posted on a facebook account of a PA resident.


This kind of ideology and racism still exists. When we saw this we were left with no words, I personally was utterly disgusted.
The ignorance shown in such post is just unbelievable. To think that people think this way just makes me lose a little hope of how the election are going to be this year. I remembered a lot of aspects of my childhood. Being of Mexican descent and speaking Spanish and above all coming to live to a hick place in Pennsylvania made some of my life very unbearable. At a very young age I was discriminated against and had to learn to deal with comments and stares from people who just don't understand.

The viewer comments that were associated with the facebook  picture explained how many Mexicans come here to work and obtain the jobs in which other Americans would never want. The thing I disagree with this comment is that not only Mexicans come to work but HISPANICS. People seem to misunderstand and end up blaming Mexicans. I have met people from Honduras, Guatemala, Chile, the Ukraine, Mexico, Russia, every fucking place who come here to work illegally in jobs the normal American would not do. Many people have been conditioned to think that people who work in the fields are Mexicans when that is totally false. Just because they see a person talking in Spanish they instantly think that they are Mexican. It is such a pity that there is so much ignorance. I have heard so many times how Mexicans are blamed for "stealing the jobs". Yes I agree you rarely see whites doing the work that Hispanics supposedly take. Although these jobs are being done by various minorities, not one specific group is working these jobs.  There are economic consequences to the stoppage of hiring illegal immigrants.  According to a Pew Research Center study by Jeffery Passel, undocumented immigrants compromise 25 percent of farm employees (Passel 15). These human beings sustain a large portions of America's economy. We can not imagine how high produce prices would be if there were not undocumented immigrants working in the fields. Just this year so many crops went bad because people were being detained and taken back to their homeland (Neiwart 3-5). Besides the economic consequences there are moral consequences of deporting Mexicans. It is unjust and disgusting to see these deportations; people do not understand that while undocumented people are being detained and taken to prison, their kids are at home waiting for their parents to come back. Kids are being left without their parents, families are being torn apart.

Another example is evident with the DREAM Act. The Congressional Budget Office has explained that if the DREAM Act were passed, undocumented children would be saving the Federal government millions of dollars (CBO 1). The fact of the matter is that immigrants advance American society.  In addition, the DREAM Act is the morally fair policy to enact. Undocumented children did not intentionally come to America illegally; they were brought to this country by others. The DREAM act or any type of immigration reform would bring in millions of dollars to the US government. My suggestion for Congress is to enact either the DREAM Act or a comprehensive immigration reform policy. The people that would be able to apply would have a fine to pay thus it not being a free option causing money to come into the government.
The post says how there shouldn't be "no freebies: Non-citizens." But yet look at all the illegal aliens who have fought for the united states to end the war on terror and have died. People pay taxes and contribute to this society everyday. We are not asking for amnesty for these people, we are asking for a fair and just policy. America was founded on principles of fairness and justices.

The people who are in America should be given a chance to contribute to American society without the threat of hatred or bigotry. Black, Brown, yellow, purple, pink, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, men, women, old, young, disabled, christian, atheist, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, etc., are all human beings. This isn't rocket science, people are people despite their color or belief system. We need to stop the childishness and welcome people in this country and let them contribute. That is America; that is how America was built.

Reference
Neiwert David. "Alabama Harvests the Bitter Fruit of Its Harsh New Immigration Laws: Tomatoes
            Dyin On The Vine." 6 Oct. 2011 Crooksandliars.com  2011 Crooks and Liars. Viewed
            28 Dec. 2011. http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/alabama-harvests-bitter-fruit-its-ha

Congressional Budget Office. "Congression Budget Office Cost Estimate: S. 3992 Development, 
            Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2010." 2 Dec 2010 CBO.gov  2011
            Congressional Budget Office. Viewed  28 Dec 2011.   
             cbo.gov/ftpdocs/119xx/doc11991/s3992.pdf>

Passel Jeferry. "A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States." 14 April 2009.      
            PewHispanic.org  2011 Pew Research Center. viewed 28 Dec 2011.
            http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/107.pdf

Stephen King

     One of my biggest passions in life is reading. Recently while watching AMC I stumbled across a commercial advertising a new mini series called Bag of Bones. Of course it would be my favorite author Stephen King. So the next day I picked up the book from my shelf and started reading it as soon as possible before the series starts. But as I started reading the book I did a quick mental note of how many of his books have succesfully been made into books or series. So I started jotting all the ones that thought were good and the ones that were a big dissapointment.
     The first one on the list I have got to say is The Shawshank Redemption I thought it was exceptionally made. When I saw the movie I recited the lines amd was amazed on how good of a cast they had picked. Even though the movie was made exactly as the book I have got to say it was not one bit boring or lackluster. I absolutly adored it and bawled my eyes out.
     The second one was Firestarter. I read the book not that long ago when I had nothing left to read. I thought it was very good. I was completly engrossed into the book. The whole experimentation part of the book made me feel horrible for the people and made me think that those kinds of things probably did happen and or are happening. When I finished reading the book for some odd reason the movie by art of magic was on. I stayed up till 4 in the morning only to be utterly dissapointed. There were various scenes that were exactly alike and other I couldn't help but think what the hell!?! And of course the choice of actors was horrid I think the only one that was good was Drew Barrymore and the dad but otherwise it just left me thinking that if I had money and a videocamera I would probably be able to direct a way better movie....in fact I may just do that. Although I'd need actors, and money, and a camera, and place to shoot....I guess not a good idea but either way I'd be better.
     Next is of course the most famous of them all the ok wait second IT is probably the first...anywho The Shinning. Now first thing about the movie I have got to say even though it had a whole lot not like the book it was actually pretty fucking great. I loved Jack Nicholson in it he was amazing. Now like I said before its not precisly like the book I heard the mini series that had come out on Scy Fi was more precice I have yet to watch it though. I heard that The Dome was coming out on HBO or whatnot as a mini series. But I never heard more from that I wonder if it was dropped or if its still in production. Either way I would love to see how that comes out I think that would be a very good one. "Salems Lot was an amazing book not anything like that Twilight crap(no offense to those that like Twilight please dont get into this drama filled discussion because I will stand by my point saying that it is crap and totally not realistic like of course 'Salems Lot). I totally loved the book although I did have a lot of questions regarding the book which of course I have not gotten any answers only just formed hypthesis. Anywho I did see the 70s mini series which was named something else but of course it was 'Salems Lot. I did think that it was very cheesy at certain points. For example when you get the shots of the vampires being in the air and trying to get into the peoples houses. You could totally see that they were on wires and of course that it was fake. And also there is a part in the beginning that was nothing like the book. The person who I saw te movie with loved the movie to tell you the truth I didnt really care for it but for him he thought it was amazing. He said that he liked how there was just so much suspense even though there were parts where it was poorly made the suspense and drama of the film made you forget the crappyness of some scenes. I know I have yet to cover more movie/books but I will just leave it as a to be continued sort of thing so without much ado......to be continued      

G            

The Constitution's Human Side

Pure Random was created for the purpose of discussing random issues of our time and giving a human face to those random issues. But what exactly is a discussion? One group of people will give their side of the argument and another group of people will give their side. During discussions, people use talking points, examples, or statistics. But what about the human impacts of issues. Why are they ignored? Why do we so often ignore human suffering and reduce issues to statistical data. When issues are reduced in this nature, our humanity is reduced.

Lets kick off the first discussion of this website with the U.S. Constitution. There are those who want to use this document to support their ideological view of how America ought to govern its people. Political forces such as the Tea Party may contend that the Constitution has to return to what the founding fathers believed it should be. But what did the founding fathers believe? George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, two of the greatest American founders, believed that there should be a strong Federal government. Thomas Jefferson of course believed in states rights. In addition,John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, believed that ultimately the Supreme Court decides what the Constitution means. Supreme Court interpretations, also known as judicial review, have been the precedent for the past 200 years. So the Constitution is not the original document that was signed in 1787. It is a document that had to expand and adapt to changing times. It is a document that has helped human beings over time. Returning to a 1787 interpretation of the Constitution would undermine 200 years of Supreme Court Constitutional law and it would undermine human progress in America.

So lets talk about the human impact of the Constitution. One great example concerns civil rights. The 1964 Civil Rights act gets it legal justification from the Interstate Commerce Clause. With this expansion, the Federal Government can go into states and regulate businesses. The Federal government can mandate that public accommodations serve African Americans. The Supreme Court has agreed with this expansion. This expansion along with other expansions has greatly protected African Americans. This significance of these achievements can not be overstated enough. They are monumental. Human beings were greatly protected by these expansions of the Constitution. The Constitution has enabled the Federal government to protect African Americans from dehumanizing conditions.

To those political forces, who want to reduce the Constitution to its 1787 meanings, explain your position to the African American mother who was able to protect her children from discrimination and brutality. Explain your position to the African American father who was able to allow his children to attend a good school. Explain your position to all those people who were able to obtain equal rights due to expansions of the Constitution. The Constitution has had a human impact.

The U.S. Constitution has protected real human beings with its expansions. It has had a human affect.The point of this site is to display the human effects of random issues. Issues should not be reduced to statistical data or ideological viewpoints. Issue discussions should attempt to consider the human impacts of problems.