Find an article that relates in some way to the things we have been talking about in class. Summarize the article, then respond to it in some way. Agree, disagree, or other. Why did you pick it? How does it connect to our class?
Include a link to the text. Should be about 250 words in length.
Some things we have talked about:
- Critical Thinking
- Rhetoric
- Ethos, Logos, Pathos
- Egocentric Thinking
- Ignorance
- Bias
- Integrity
- Hypocrisy
- Critical Reading
- Writing Process
- Research
- Population Control
- 2BR02B
- Problems/Solutions
- Decisions and Repercussions
Professor Ramos' Blog 
I was on twitter and came across a tweet talking about sex trafficking. Basically, told a story about just an average teenager was kidnapped, drugged, beaten, and held captive for a while in Sacramento. It all started when she made this “friend” while shopping. The friend pretended to be a teenager, and exchanged numbers. They texted a couple days and the so called friend asked her to sneak out. So, the teenager didn’t think much of it and did. Well, turned out this “friend” was actually in her 20’s and a sex trafficking scout. In the end she was lucky and the Sacramento sheriff’s found her.
For me this article proved how ignorant I can be. I never really think about situations like these, and feel like it will never happen to me. But who even thinks this will happen them? No one it just happens sadly. It also stated the Sacramento is the 2 worst human trafficking city in the United States. It is good to know information like this, so I can be aware. This connect to our class because we have been talking about ignorance. Well ignorance is not always a bad thing, but in certain situations like this it is. Being aware of situations and knowing it can happen to anyone.
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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/267823509061629222 This is a quote about ignorance by Mark Twain. It states, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he’d learned in seven years.” I interpret this quote to mean that when he was a boy, he thought his father was ignorant, but only because he himself was ignorant. With egocentric thinking, he did not want him around because he did not want to hear anything other than what he already believed was correct. Once he lived life a little bit, he acquired more knowledge and realized that not everything his father says is ignorant. I agree with this because no one knows everything about anything. When we choose not to hear something about an area we think we know about, how do we know if we may be wrong? Or we may acquire more knowledge than we previously held. When we do not listen to others we are choosing to stay ignorant. I chose this quote and it is related to class because this is what critical thinking is about. If we take one thing, listen to all points of view rather than holding tightly to our one point of view, investigate, find facts and analyze, we can become more knowledgeable.
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https://twitter.com/damnitskendrlck/status/857670881132384257
This video of a famous rapper, it struck my attention greatly due to the words that flowed out of his emotional experice. What he was explaining was how most people don’t follow their form of integrity in situations that are imposing to their logical sense in someone or theirselves. As he was stating that in some cases people do shy away from problems or don’t look into others horrendous predicaments that others endured. I also think this is great form of rhetoric of how this person is able to inform the listener about past experiences, by having that sentimental aspect as well as using that logical thinking that most individuals have in that scenario. In the example he used he was explaining about his perspective of panhandlers, and their actual motives for their money. Thus this is true to some people that they would use the money in ways that can cause harm to themselves or others but not everything is as it seems. In the sense of engaging a person you never met, their past and experiences are very different from yours. Those people that are suffereing in numerous ways are evaluating how to engage with others for aid. Their thinking could not be as keen as we might think but their generosity is a huge impact to our form of integrity. This is appealing to me because I had a similar situation happen to myself when I quickly judged or assumed another when they needed aid. I did engage with this person only to find out that not everything I thought is true of others. This impeded me of my true form of integrity because this was not how I was taught to be. Being respectful in a manner that helps you grow as a person is a step to aspiring change. This made me see how this related to our class by the form of integrity and rhetoric.
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I came across this tweet on Twitter. The official page of WFAA ABC, tweeted “ Dallas man says fingers and toes must be amputated after flu- related conditions” This article explains, how Mr. Smith contracted the flu. Mr. Smith claims he got the flu in December 2017. He said prior to getting the “flu” he had gotten the flu shot, thinking he would be less likely to get the flue. Apparently that was not the case. He asked a friend to take him to the urgent care because he felt dizzy and week, thats when they told him, he only had 24 hours to live. He claims, “ from the flu came sepsis and pneumonia.” This story seems a little crazy to me. I feel like since the flu has a large number of deaths this year, people and doctors are mistaking the flu symptoms for something more severe. So I did my own little research and make my own theories of what could have happened. Maybe when he got the flu shot, the chemicals in the shot may have reacted terribly with his body. There is also a myth that once you get the shot you get sick with the common cold. I also feel like the tittle is misleading. The article does not even explain what is sepsis. So the article in’t even giving us the full story.
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Initially, when I saw the title, “What Terminally Ill Children Taught this Doctor About how to Live,” by Dr. Alastair McAlpine, I assumed it would be too depressing to read and analyze an article about terminally ill children; however, I decided to read this article anyways. Dr. McAlpine, a pediatric palliative care physician, who helps improve the life of his young patients dealing with serious illnesses, as well as help their patient and family understand and cope with their illnesses both medically, psychosocially, and spiritually. Dr. McAlpine decided to study his little patient’s response to “what gave them joy and meaning.” McAlpine found that the simple things in life, such as playing with toys, reading and listening to stories, “acts of kindness,” and “time spent with loved ones,” caused these children to be happy in the midst of difficult circumstances. Additionally, Dr. McAlpine mentions these simple life changing moments are normally “[forgotten] in the hustle and bustle of daily living.” Dr. McAlpine illustrates that these children’s responses inspired him and his readers to reflect on the life lessons the children expressed are most important in life.
After reading this article, I was impressed by the surprising amount of joy, positivity, and honest truth from the minds and hearts of these children throughout a difficult experience. The children proved that the simplicity of life matters more than the struggles we face. This article relates to our class because Dr. Alastair McAlpine acknowledges how the children’s perspectives have opened up his own eyes to follow their words of wisdom. He admitted his ignorance multiple times, by confessing that they have challenged him “to re-evaluate just what is important with the very limited time we have.” Even though, these children are younger than us, all of us can learn and apply their wisdom into our daily life. Nowadays, most adults and teenagers, including myself, are worried about drama, stress, fear, success, money, or social media, rather than enjoying the small things in life. I have learned from their responses to make the most out of my life by reminding myself of the “good stories”, which I consider as miracles and true stories, treasure our time spent with our loved ones, surround yourself in a positive environment during hardships, and always be thankful.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/09/pets-laughter-and-kindness-lessons-on-life-from-terminally-ill-children
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Turning the Tide Volume 30 Number 1 ISSN 1082-6491 Jan-Mar 2018
“Free the Black Four!” by John deVincent
(I can bring the physical paper into class. The website archive is only accessible through invite.)
“Turning the Tide” is a public journal printed and distributed from Culver City, CA. I came across a copy at a Queer Chicano punk show in Pasadena and was instantly very intrigued. The journals focus on inter-communal solidarity as well as tackling modern social justice issues such as racism and homophobia. One article, in particular, sparked my interest, titled “Free the Black Pride Four”. The article explains that a group of peaceful protesters in Columbus Ohio halted a Pride parade to request moments of silence for Philando Castille, who was shot several times by officer Jeronimo Yanez, who had pulled over Castile, his girlfriend, and her four-year-old daughter. The peaceful protesters at the Pride parade were attempting to bring forth the issue of violence toward racial minorities as well as a lack of acceptance in, and accessibility to, LGBTQ spaces.
The issue of the lack of intersectionality has been very prevalent in the Queer community, as well as the Feminist community. There is a serious lack of consideration for people of color as well as transexuals when discussing issues of homophobia and sexism. I believe that, although the organizers of the Pride parade were advocating a good cause, they were disregarding the perspectives of people of color. This group of Queer Black activists sought to bring forth these issues during the Pride parade, but four of these protesters were unfortunately arrested over alleged charges of aggravated robbery, resisting arrest, causing harm to a police officer, failure to comply with a police officer’s order, and disorderly conduct. The trial for the four protesters was scheduled for February 5th, 2018, however currently there are no updates on the results.
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https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201204/it-s-fine-line-between-narcissism-and-egocentrism
This article points out the differences between egocentric behavior and narcissistic behavior. It explains that someone with egocentric behavior is typically incapable of perceiving a situation beyond their own perspective. Someone with narcissistic behavior typically shows excessive admiration for themselves, and may clearly see the situation from another’s perspective, yet see no reason to change their behavior. The article goes on to identify pointers for corrective action to help with altering these toxic personality traits.
I feel that this article is useful for putting a name to certain types of people and also in serving as a tool for self-improvement. The steps given in order to undergo corrective action are very useful in becoming a critical thinker and are the primary reason that I chose this article to write about. I agree with the article because being egocentric not only narrows your mind from being able to critically think, but it can also diminish your self-esteem. Having a narcissistic personality will cause your self-esteem to be reliant upon people’s attention, influencing an entitled attitude. Narcissism is relevant to being egocentric because as the article mentions, “it’s very easy to slip from ordinary egocentrism to entitled narcissism.”
The article relates to our class discussion by covering egocentrism. Egocentrism can be a huge restriction upon one’s own ability to critically think because it denies them from having an open mind and the ability to think about a situation from a different perspective. As professor Ramos once asked, “How will you know what you believe in if you do not question your current beliefs?”
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https://army.overdrive.com/media/657120
http://publicliterature.org/books/2BR02B/1
In the short story, “2BR02B”, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., we are told of a world in which there is no hunger, disease, poverty,wars, or old age, replaced instead by a system of voluntary suicide that leaves the US population at 40 million. The reason for this was to decrease the amount of rapidly reproducing human population, that because a cure for age and all diseases, which as of 2000 in this timeline,was increasing past the 20 billion mark, and so it was made so that those who volunteered were sent into gas chambers in the billions until the US populace rested at the number in what can only be assumed to be between the years 2200 and 2250. The story begins as a man named Wehling is waiting for his wife to give birth in a hospital, while another man paints a mural for the man who has volunteered to die in place of one of the newborns, the problem being that two more volunteers have to die for Wehling to have all of them.After a brief exchange between the painter and a hospital orderly, a woman who is from one of the gas chambers walks in posing for the spot on the mural choosing to be the pruner cutting off old limbs on the tree as she sees it as a position she was use to. Then Dr. Hitz, the doctor in the hospital and inventor of the first gas chamber, walks in telling Wehling his children have been born but he should choose which one he wants since they only had one volunteer, his grandfather, and they have a short discussion about his opinion on the volunteer program resulting in Wehling killing Hitz, the woman, and himself, leaving space for his children and one other person to be born. The painter, deeply traumatized by this event, calls the number “2BR02B” and volunteers ending the story.
The moral behind the story is very subjective due to the lack of empathy shown by several of the characters. Is it right to end the lives of people who have lived hundreds of years for newborn babies to replace them and vice versa? Is it right for billions of people to have killed themselves or have been forced to kill themselves? It seems like the story was made to be that way because it leaves us with three to the five characters dead and one signing up to kill himself, showing us that to an extent life can be easily taken away though whatever your opinions are will affect the interpretation for why each character did what they did. Probably the biggest part of the painter, or the observer, who since he was the last one standing, leaves him in almost a narrator type role. He is a 200 year old man who is painting a mural that he hates due to its heavenly look on what life looks like, as time has wore on him as he comments that the dirty rag on the floor is closer to life than the mural is. His choice to kill himself in the end was a decision that although everyone in the country has few chose to use, and having finally seen the deaths of those characters, that although only with them for a few minutes, still left a trauma that prevented him from continuing on. He could not do his art, maybe the one thing that kept himself from being somber, and as such had no reason to go on living calling the number. 2BR02B is a quote from Hamlet, “to be or not to be” which is about the prince debating with himself whether he should kill himself or not as life was meaningless in his own eyes after the death of his father by his brother’s hand. The end of the arc for the painter is more his decision to kill himself for another to be born and to prevent the events that happened before him to never happen again. Also where did all the bodies go, why hadn’t they considered space, who mandated a purging of human life from the United States, and why did they mandate that the population of the US remain at 40 million, as this would cause a mass loss of reason to exist, as humanity must expand its knowledge creating or exploring new ideas where as this does exactly the opposite as no new people would ask questions that challenged or viewed the problem from a different angle and most all humans would have no reason or purpose, outside of basic self preservation, to live at all? All questions that will never be answered.
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Tried to put picture(top link), did not work.
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https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-friedman-ignorance-trump-20171220-story.html%3foutputType=amp
I came across about an article relating to the ongoing actions of our current president. It’s title is “If your bliss is ignorance, Trump is your friend” . It talks about the ongoing problems associated with trump when it comes to statistics and his on going lies.It’s far more relaxing to begin from a position divorced from reality.This summer the Office of Science and Technology Policy published a memo on its priorities for the coming year that failed to mention climate change. Something that most people can see can’t be seen by those blinded by ignorance. The main assumption of the article is that “The more you ignore the challenges facing our country, the happier you’ll feel. Say goodbye to gloom-and-doom statistics about childhood asthma and rising sea levels!”. I can agree where this article is coming from due to the ongoing problems that have occurred due to the blind faith some people follow in trump. Ignorance is what is overcoming people to believe that all Mexicans are “drug dealers and rapist”. It reminds me of the ted talk that we watched in class and it goes to show you that people make ignorant assumptions of each other without knowing the full story. When you are a man of power you are suppose to be the best version of yourself because others follow in your footsteps. Every action every comment is powerful and when you don’t think of the consequences of your actions and what may occur results in ignorance on his behalf.
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An article entitled “This Teenager Accused Two On-duty Cops of Rape. She had no Idea the Law Might Protect Them.” Explains how two on duty narcotics agents forced themselves on an 18 year old girl in Brooklyn. This took place on September 15, 2017 around 8pm and the events took place are truly repulsive. Eighteen year old Anna “Doe” was hanging out with two young male friends in a parked car when they were approached by an unmarked van driven by two officers in a narcotics unit. There was weed found in the front cup-holder and all three were ordered outside of the car. Eventually, the two boys were let go but Anna had been detained.
The two officers, Eddie Martins, 37, and Richard Hall, 33, with both powerful builds towering over 6 ft. tall, placed Anna in the back of their tinted van and began taking turns raping her while one of them drove as she was handcuffed to the interior. When they were done, they dropped her off on the side of the road a quarter mile from the police station.
The officers made no arrest, citations, or paperwork about this stop they had made. Hours later Anna and her mother went to the hospital and told nurses what had happened and found evidence of the officer’s exploitations.
Anna did in fact file a court case for this event and expected it to be a simple one due to it being in the degree it had been, but she did not know that there is no law specifically stating it is illegal for officers in the field to have non-consensual sex with their detainee. Thirty five states in the U.S also have similar loopholes.
This article ties into our class relating to bias, integrity, hypocrisy, as well as decisions and repercussions. I believe that the judicial system holds a bias towards law enforcement agents and lets most of these cases go with nothing but a slap on the wrist and possesses no integrity for justice when it comes to cases like this for the victim. How can the police department be so hypocritical to arrest and charge people for the same crimes but not lift a finger when it’s one of their own committing the crimes. There should be repercussions to the actions of the officers just like the citizens when they get caught doing something illegal and maybe they’ll stop wondering why less and less people respect the police force on a daily basis.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/this-teenager-accused-two-on-duty-cops-of-rape-she-had-no?utm_term=.vmb7NdqJb#.hdBxMRK9z
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Fox News Exec Slams U.S. Olympic Committee For ‘Darker, Gayer, Different’ Agenda – Billboard
I recently read this article basically stating that the U.S Olympic Committee is no longer about being “faster, higher, and stronger” but about being “darker, gayer, and different” according to John Moody. Moody wrote that they went through a “embarrassing laundry list of how many African-Americans, Asians and openly gay athletes are on this year’s U.S. team. No sport that we are aware of awards points – or medals – for skin color or sexual orientation.” I believe that some people jump to conclusions. If Moody was unaware of someone being gay, a different race or just different in general I don’t think these things would have been said. A team should be able to be diverse and different without being treated so negatively. Moody is entitled to his opinion but is discriminating as well as involving racism. America is a diverse country, so why can’t out Olympic team be too?
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https://www.teenvogue.com/story/ashley-graham-noor-tagouri-diversity-endeavor-nyfw-panel
NYFW is here and on the first day Endeavor hosted a panel about the changing face of beauty. The Panel was about inclusivity and what it should look like. Teen vogue highlights Ashley Graham for using her new role as the new Revlon spokesmodel to speak about diversity in beauty. She says that it’s time for these larger makeup companies to stop celebrating the “New” diversity and then just forget about it and move on to the next new person. She states that “It’s enough with celebrating the new girl. Because she’s not the new girl. She’s been around the block, and then some, and you’re just deciding to put her in your campaign.”
She wants the beauty industry to now focus on making the “new girl” the norm and to stop marketing one “token” face. When I saw this article on twitter I related it to “problems and solutions”. I agree with Ashley, I think it’s important to focus on this issue in the beauty industry. There are so many younger people who are so heavily influenced by social media, and feel like they have to fit in to this one cookie cutter shape and that’s not true. I see it all the time at work. I work at a middle school in the cafeteria and students come through grab their food, and punch in their code to pay for their lunch. A photo of the student comes up, and whoever is within the vicinity of the POS system could easily see it. They say things like “EWWW” “I look horrible” or scream and try to cover the computer screen before someone else could see it. Sometimes when other students do see they laugh and poke fun. I just feel like at such a young age people learn to be so insecure with their appearances and its extremely damaging and can have long term effects. I’m glad the message it starting to get out there, it’s a good start but there is so much more that needs to be done. Its sucks that some, not all, large makeup brands are using these new ideas of diversity just to relate to their consumers and to sell more product, I wonder if they care more about money or more about the well-being of their consumers. 🤔
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https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5520899/molly-mclaren-joshua-stimpson-foundation/
Molly McLaren was a 23-year-old from Britain. Her life was tragically taken from her on June 29, 2017, at the hands of her ex-boyfriend Joshua Stimpson. Molly and Joshua met on Tinder in 2016. They dated for a few months, but then briefly split in November 2016. They rekindled their romance, however it didn’t last long; on June 2017, Molly ended the relationship for good. Joshua, a warehouse worker, did not take the split well. Immaturely, he began to post derogatory comments and pictures about Molly on Facebook. He went as far as posting about how she was an avid cocaine user, which has since been proven to be a lie, and tagged her family and friends so that they would see the post. At the end of another post, he stated ‘there’s more to come’. Concerned, Molly and her mother spread photos of Joshua to neighbors, and reported the posts to police on June 22nd. Joshua had a tendency of lashing out at his partners after they split. Two of his former girlfriends came forward and told the courts how he stalked them after their break-up. One said he would follow her and take pictures of her. He also threatened to drown her while on vacation. With Molly, it was no different, as he too began to stalk her. A week after reporting her concerns about Joshua to the police, she was working out at the gym. Joshua purposely began working out right next to her. When she spotted him, she confronted him and then left to the parking lot. While sitting in her vehicle, she texted her mother saying “Mum he’s turned up at the gym and come next to me.” Soon after, Joshua came up to her car, yanked the door open, and began stabbing her. She tried to fight him off, but died within a few minutes. In total, he had stabbed her approximately 75 times. It was impossible to determine the exact number of wounds because there were so many. Joshua Stimpson was sentenced to life with a minimum of 26 years in jail after jurors deliberated for less than three hours for the brutal killing.
In my opinion, Joshua Stimpson is egocentric. If he truly cared about Molly, he would have let her move on with her life. Instead, he completely disregarded her feelings and felt entitled to her time and attention.
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http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/02/ancient-stars-could-help-determine-dark-matters-velocity
I chose this article because it represents the unknown factors of universal dark matter which are still unknown after so many years, similar to the unknown factors of humans such as why we let our emotions override our debates. Discoveries in science are similar to discoveries in the English department because just like how the scientific method which continuously tests propositions made by scientists, the academic testing method similarly tests theories and studies made by professors.
The speed of dark matter particles moving through the universe is a vital property that will help astronomers better discover this unknown phenomenon. Dark energy makes up around 69% of the universe and appears to be associated with the vacuum of space. It is dispersed equally throughout the universe, its effect does not pause when the universe expands. The even distribution means that dark energy does not have any local gravitational effects, but rather a global effect on the universe as a whole. This means that no matter how big the universe gets dark matter continues to expand sending out all frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum, which tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. The rate of expansion and its acceleration can be measured by observations based on hubbles law. These discoveries, together with other scientific data, have confirmed the existence of dark energy and provide an estimate of just how much of this mysterious substance exists. I think with continuous testing and studying on the topic of dark matter scientists will change the unknown to the known in the future.
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http://allthingslinguistic.com/post/143398801292/ladysparklefists-idk-i-just-love-how-we-young
This message is about the rhetoric used on Tumblr and how words are typed out and how collectively the Tumblr community agree with this rhetoric. It also explains how the English language is flexible and bends to the agreed will of a group of people. As well as this, it is all explicitly done for a reason that is there for different kinds of emphasis.
I chose to write on this due to the fact it correlates with the entirety of rhetoric and doing things for a reason but also because it shows how the English language is. English, much like other languages, changes to fit the culture and society. It is an amazing thing to witness and actually be a part of. This Tumblr post specifies how the word no can be changed and manipulated to create completely different meanings of the word without explicitly explaining it. It is used with a purpose for each one because of the fact that each no is meant to mean something different and to put emphasis on the point they are trying to get across.
No, just like many other words, can be interpreted in different ways by the opposite side of the conversation. While, in English we end up describing what we actual mean to get our point across, the Tumblr community is able to do so in a different manner due to the agreed upon meaning and understanding of what each emphasis could imply.
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https://www.google.com/search?q=why+women+dont+report+sexual+assault+men+replying+i+don%27t+believe+you+picture&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj__-vFu6HZAhVdVWMKHSdyA9cQ_AUICigB&biw=1600&bih=794#imgrc=Ebpjc3FB1PrWcM:
I used this quote because I believe it ties into what we are talking about in class when we speak about ignorance. I believe people find their words so valid that they are accustomed to seeing one side, so the truth, or when someone who uses a logical appeal against them, they see it as wrong considering they are so wrapped up in what they are saying. I believe the picture displays the true definition of ignorance, not being able to see both sides of an argument. In a real life situation, the picture talks about how women don’t report sexual assault because men don’t believe what women have to say and a comment underneath is a man stating “I don’t believe it”. This shows how undermining the whole idea of sexual assault is. Even with our president he seems to brush the whole topic under the rug and defends the men who are accused and continues to shame women stating they lie. This here, is another reason why sexual assault isn’t brought up. Women will be shamed into feeling a certain way, as if they had been asking for it or that they should not be feeling the way that they feel. I believe we have to open our eyes to our ignorance more to be able to see both sides and both feelings towards a topic.
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https://cavsnation.com/cavs-news-tv-personality-lebron-james-should-shut-up-dribble/
In this article, it talks about how a Fox News anchor insults LeBron James and Kevin Durant for speaking about politics. The news anchors says that they should “”shut up and dribble” and should leave political commentary for people who didn’t leave high school a year early to get paid 100 million dollars to bounce a ball.
I find her words very ignorant and egocentric. I think that the mindset of “you’re not a expert in this field, therefore you shouldn’t speak about it” is ignorant and problematic. If the news anchor would’ve done some research on LeBron, she would see how he come from nothing and became a super-celebrity. He is one of the many basketball players who seek to be a great role model and he doesn’t seek to cause a ruckus. It’s also hypocritical for her to say that LeBron and Kevin, as athletes, shouldn’t be able to speak on politics when the company she represents has had a plethora of celebrities and athletes who were brought onto the network’s news program to give their commentary on political issues. (As can be seen in this thread of tweets https://twitter.com/JOEL9ONE/status/964506954386345984). I feel as though she didn’t think it through enough, and got too caught up with herself and what she does and got offended with how much attention LeBron gets when he talks about politics because he probably reaches more ears than she does.
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/Users/WOKEmaster/Downloads/breast-feeding-cows-233×300.jpg
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