I was listening to the Uncorked episode of the Update because I was extremely bored today. After listening to the various discussion topics and laughing at many spots, I decided to give my views on the topics discussed because I am, again, extremely bored with nothing better to do, and I never really have expressed my views on controversial topics like these.
End of the World?
December 2012, the day the world combusts and explodes and whatever. No, I don’t believe that’s true. As far as I know there is no possible way yet to see into the future, so I don’t believe ancient civilizations hundreds of years ago could have predicted something as big as the end of the world on such a specific day. December 2012 is only about four years away, and if the world was going to end on that day I’m pretty sure scientists would have been able to detect some sort of malfunction in nature that would lead up to it. Or maybe they have and they’re keeping it secret. Who knows?
What is the meaning of life?
For whatever odd reason, whenever I hear the saying “what is the meaning of life” I always think “to marry a monkey.” I don’t know where I heard “to marry a monkey” from or why it’s been stuck in my head as my instinctual response, so don’t ask. But it’s not my actual response to the question. The meaning of life varies with who we’re talking about. If it’s for species of life other than humans, I would say that it would be reproduction. A year of AP Bio drilled that into my head – that all species live to reproduce. However for humans, while reproduction is still a part of it, I would say that there is more to the meaning of life than just mindless breeding. Shane’s response to this topic was to better ourselves, and that I agree with. Since humans are intelligent, the meaning of life for us should be to somehow advance ourselves and have some sort of impact on the world. Whether it be good or bad is decided by the person, but nonetheless people will grow and do things that have some effect on the world.
Global Warming
Again I have to agree with the panel’s response to this topic – that global warming is occurring but not to the large scale that people put it as. Yes, more AP Bio drilled this response into my head. Anyway, we learned in bio that the hole in the ozone layer has gotten larger throughout the years, but in current years it has started to become slightly smaller. Therefore with that evidence in hand, it can be somewhat safe to say that global warming is a natural cycle of the world. Perhaps humans are making the cycle speed up and maybe are making some effects greater than they would be, but it is still a natural cycle nonetheless.
Cloning
If there are no detrimental effects of whatever is being cloned, I see nothing wrong with cloning. I do not know much about cloning or the sciences behind how it’s done and what is involved, but if things such as animals, plants, and organs are not harmed when being cloned, there is no reason it should not be done. After all, a larger number of the things mentioned above would help not only humans but the world as well. Maybe we could even clone endangered species. As for human cloning, I don’t think that should be done now with the current state of overpopulation in the world. Perhaps if a person was dying and the only way to save them was to make a clone then yes clone them, but I can’t really see a situation where that would happen.
Origin of the Universe
Big Bang. I’m atheist. I’ll save my irritations about creationism/religion for another post (seeing as that would be rather long – I’m a bit like Brad when it comes to talking about them). I have nothing wrong with religion, as people are free to believe what they want, but people need to understand that scientific evidence is greater than a book.
Extraterrestrial Life
OF COURSE ET EXISTS! I DIDN’T CRY THROUGH THAT MOVIE FOR NOTHING!
On a more serious note, I think somewhere out there aliens exist. The universe is infinite, and we haven’t even explored one thousandth of it. There is a good possibility that somewhere beyond our current reaches there is life of some sort. Perhaps the life is small, like bacteria, that has not yet become as advanced as life on Earth. As of now we haven’t traveled throughout the universe yet, so anything is possible when it comes to life.
Parents and Video Games
In my opinion, the way a child comes out is all dependent upon the parents. Parents should teach their child the proper morals and the proper ethics of life when the child is young. If they do so correctly and they buy video games for their child, then the child will know better than to do things in real life that happens in the video game. If parents have been lax on raising their child properly, then yes the child may have some thoughts about doing things in video games in real life (may, not will). In my mind, if parents believe their child is mature and they have raised their child well, there should be no problem with buying them video games. I’m not saying you should buy them video games at any age (I would not buy my child GTA or Resident Evil or something when they’re under 10 years old), but there comes a fine line between being too young and parents being overprotective; kids will find out about swear words and innuendo’s eventually. In the end, it all comes down to how the parents raise and teach their child and their decisions.
Abortion
Again, it’s all up to decisions and responsibilities on the parents. If it’s, say, something like teen pregnancy, and both parents feel a child would be too much of a hassle and the baby is still within the first trimester/early second trimester, I wouldn’t see much of a problem with that (except for the fact that the teens decided to have sex). In another scenario, maybe the father is a drunk hobo every other day and the mother feels it would not be safe to have a child, then yes there would be nothing wrong with abortion either. I don’t feel it’s something wrong as long as the circumstances for having the abortion are alright (aka not having the abortion just for the sake of having one) and the baby has not yet entered the third trimester.
Iraq War
Oh boy. I haven’t followed the Iraq War closely so I won’t say much for this one. I believe that it was right to get rid of Saddam Hussein since he was a bit of a tyrannical leader (from what I heard anyway). However I do think right now things have gone a bit too far. Using the line again, there’s a fine line between protecting civilians and getting in the way/being unneeded. I’ll end my thoughts here, seeing as I’m not too knowledgeable about this subject so I don’t want to say things that may be completely off.
Medical Interrogation/Torture
This all depends on the information needed and the crime committed. Like the panel said, if the crime was large-scale and the information that was being withheld was something vital to save civilian’s lives, then yes I would agree the medical interrogation would be okay in that case. If it were small case crimes, then there is no reason medical interrogation should be used. However I do believe this form of getting information from people should be used as scarcely as possible, as I do not relish the thought of putting people under immense pain just to get some words out of them.
Gay Rights/Marriage
Before I get into this, I’d just like to say that I’m straight. Now, to my thoughts.
I do not believe there is anything wrong with this whatsoever. The simple fact is: people are different and not everyone is the same. I don’t get why being gay or bisexual is considered so wrong in our current society. What’s wrong with liking someone of the same gender? It’s not like the person likes a monkey or something – it’s still a human to human relationship. Since humans are so …advanced I guess you could say, in areas of the mind, thoughts, emotions, and personalities, you cannot expect everyone to be exactly the same. As for marriage, I believe that you should pledge your life to someone that you are truly happy being around. Whether it is the opposite or the same gender is up to you, but either or there should be nothing wrong with that. If someone of the same gender makes someone else happy and they want to be married, there should be no reason why they can’t have rights to be married. Just because it’s not the “norm” doesn’t mean they should be denied the rights. After all, in the definition of “marriage” nowhere does it specifically say “man and woman” (at least not in this Microsoft Word dictionary).
I think I should stop here before I end up going on a rant with different tangents about people against being gay/bisexual. To sum it up, I see absolutely nothing wrong with liking people of the same gender and I deeply frown upon people who do see something wrong with it.
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Hm. Maybe instead of spending my internet-less hours of the day studying and playing DS games on the computer, I should write intelligent and thoughtful blog posts. After all, they do beat my usual “what I’ve been up to” 20 word posts.
Posted by bluebrisingr 
Posted by bluebrisingr 
Posted by bluebrisingr 
