Gun Control and the Second Amendment

Sandy Hook Elementary School. Oregon Mall. Aurora movie theater. Wisconsin Sikh temple. Only four of the fifteen US mass shootings that have occurred throughout the year 2012. These indescribable tragedies have captured the attention of millions across the United States and the world, and the United States and the entire world is wondering how can we stop these inexplicable shootings?

The recent Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has really sparked the debate about gun control laws in the United States. Many people across the country believe that the United State’s allows very easy access to guns, and this easy access calls for trouble. However, the Second Amendment acts as a serious obstacle to the United States gun control legislation.  

Supporters of the Second Amendment believe that the amendment has one interpretation and that is that Americans citizens have the rights to bear arms. They argue that, in contrast with the First Amendment that has very vague language, the Second Amendment has very clear language that the Second Amendment right “shall not be infringed”. Advocates for the Second Amendment believe that gun control laws do not make communities safe. They believe that gun control laws take away guns from righteous citizens and that if criminals want guns, they will get a gun regardless of the laws. 

Because of the recent shootings that have occurred, there have been a lot of people throughout the United States that are calling for a change in gun control laws that would infringe upon the Second Amendment. New York City Mayor Bloomberg is calling for a change in gun control laws. Bloomberg is a proponent of the Fix Gun Checks Act that would make it necessary for a person to get a background check before purchasing a gun license. Bloomberg claims that this act would not take all of the guns off of the street, but it would “ go a long ways in limiting them”. There are many other strategies of gun control, including the act that would forbid sales of semi-automatic weapons. Semi-automatic weapons are very powerful and should not be allowed in homes or for hunting. There are many different proposals that would limit and control guns, however the biggest obstacle that does not allow these proposals to pass is the Second Amendment. 

Do you think the Second Amendment should be infringed upon and new gun control laws should be instated into the nation? Why or why not? How should guns be controlled in the United States that would prevent massacres to occur in the future? 

Fair Trade and Classism

     In late November, a fire broke out in a Bangladeshi sweatshop. This fire, which was caused by criminal negligence on the part of the owner, killed 112 people.  The highest-paid workers at the Tazreen Fashion Factory only made 23 to 26 cents an hour and worked in horrific conditions. Contemplating both this tragedy as well as Robert Pinsky’s “Shirt” has given me a lot to think about. I have never really paid much attention to where the clothes I wear or the food I eat comes from. However, since watching the news and reading “Shirt,” I have been doing a lot of research on the sources of my food and clothing. It has been shocking. During my investigations, I became very interested in the concept of fair trade, how it works, and how it can be related to classism. 

      Fair trade provides certified products that are not made in sweatshops or grown on a factory farm. The goal of fair trade is to help workers create safe working conditions and fair wages. Although fair trade is a great way to assure that the products you are buying are coming from quality working conditions, it can be very expensive for both consumers and producers.
      Because of the higher costs of fair trade, people who earn high salaries are more likely to buy them.  I might buy a Patagonia down jacket for $279 because I appreciate their ethical and environmental policies.  Someone struggling to clothe a family would likely opt for the Faded Glory Jacket for $17.99 at Wal-Mart.  That jacket is made in Bangladesh.  Although Wal-Mart has a no-sweatshop policy, the workers who died at the Tazreen factory were making goods for this retail giant.  The person buying the Wal-Mart jacket undoubtedly does not condone sweatshops but must keep a child warm and is left with a dilemma. 
       Ethically produced goods attract people who are in a higher socioeconomic class because of high prices of these goods. This relationship between ethically produced goods and social class can be characterized as classism.

         Classism is a discriminatory attitude based on distinctions made between social or economic classes. Creating products similar to fair trade that are noticeably more expensive than other products and are more ethically produced creates a clear distinction in what types of consumers these products are attracting. Producing goods that only appeal to certain classes allows classism to perpetuate. How do you think we can stop classism? Do you think that classism is becoming more common because of products like fair trade? Do you think the fact that only those with higher incomes can afford fair trade products will help or hinder the fair trade movement? Why or why not?

The End of the World?

Planet earth collides with another planet. The sun dies and leaves the world in the dark. Global warming erupts and flooding washes away civilization. A nuclear war breaks out. These are only some of the hundreds of December 21st, 2012 apocalypse theories. Well, December 21st and come and gone, and our planet earth remains the same. So, how did this 2012 apocalypse theory come to be, and how did so many people trust the Mayan calendar and believe December 21st would really be the end of the world?

      The Mayan calendar is very different than the calendar that we use today. The Mayan calendar used three different types of calendars, one including the Long Count Calendar. The Long Count Calendar counted the days from a specific starting date that some scientists believe is between August 11th and 13th 3114 BC. This calendar lasted for about 5,139 solar years (www.history.com/topics/2012) and ended on December 21st, 2012.     

          A new Grand Cycle is scheduled to start on December 22nd, however many people across the world believed that that because the first Long Count calendar finished its cycle, the world will end. Will this happen? Many people believe that the world will end on December 21st, although there is information that proves the theory wrong as well as the Mayans,  who believed that the world will not end. So why were there so many people, an astonishing 41% of people across the world, who believe that the world was going to end (Discovery)? 

         A blog post created by Discovery Retreats (link here) states that the most simple and basic reason why people believe these theories is because of their religious beliefs. Many people are very involved with their religion and tied to their religion's belief. However, there is no way that religion can account for 41% of the world that believe the world is going to end in 2012. So what could be other possible reasons? Obviously, the Mayans have been trusted throughout a lot of history, and the fact that their calendar was "ending" resulted in a lot of hype that the world was in fact going to end. A lot of media coverage, especially recently, has been a factor in so many people believing that the world was going to end. From ABC to CNN, there is a lot of coverage of the supposed December 21st apocalypse. The coverage of the apocalypse contributes to the extremely high percentage of people who believed in the apocalypse. 

         So, why do you think so many people believe in the 2012 apocalypse? Do you believe in the 2012 apocalypse? Why or why not?

The Twinkie Controversy

Nearly two weeks ago on November16th, Hostess food brands filed for bankruptcy, requesting permission to close all of its businesses and sell their assets. Hostess food brand was established in 1930 and has created classic American treats that have been around for many decades including Twinkies, Devil Dogs, Snowballs, Coffee Cakes, and Yoddles. However the question is, after so many decades of business, what caused this American company to file for bankruptcy?

One side of this Twinkie controversy claims that the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union caused Hostess's bankruptcy. The makers of these iconic junk foods had to navigate through more than three hundred labor contracts and a walk out earlier this month after Hostess received Bankruptcy court approval to implement a wage cut that was not including in its contract. After Hostess presented a new contract to the unions, which cut salaries across the company by 8% in the first year of the five-year agreement, but then were scheduled to bump up 3% in the next three years and 1%in the final year, union workers rejected the deal and went on strike. (Hostess Brands closing for good). Instead of riding out the strike, Hostess Brand decided to liquidate and on November 16^th Hostess shut down its 33 bakeries and 565 distribution centers and have prepared to fire nearly 18,500 employees. 

However the other side of the Twinkie controversy blames years of greedy management and constant executive changes. Since the 1980's, Hostess has been sold three times, racking up debt and shedding profitable assets. In the past decade, there has been seven different CEO's, and many say this has resulted in an unstable company. Because of the constant money troubles, the company filed for bankruptcy two times in the past decade, in 2004 and 2011. It has also been noted that the current CEO tripled his pay after cutting worker's salary in a previous bankruptcy. Earlier this year, members of the BCTGM Union were well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy, the Hostess CEO was awarded a 300 percent raise and at least nine other top executives received massive pay raises even though executives denied the unions their current salaries and implemented wage cuts. 

After 82 years of business, Hostess Brand has gone bankrupt. But what do you think really caused Hostess’s bankruptcy, unions or greed?