Tuesday, May 8, 2007
“Prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of.” Discuss.
Prejudice is holding a biased view against someone or someone’s way of life. It’s a detrimental hindrance to the development of society and the way we think. It mostly arises because of common stereotypes, with upbringing and the community often being important contributors as well.
Disease is a most apt word to describe prejudice with. Like a foul infection it pollutes the minds and actions of people toward others. Due to prejudice, many people are discriminated against, for example, minority races in schools, hospitals, housing and the law. They are given fewer opportunities, and some never get to realize their full potential because of this. It affects the way we treat people, for example thinking others are inferior to you simply because of their upbringing, their class, their race or their religion.
Despite our efforts to overcome it, prejudice is inherently present in our thoughts, even though the majority of us don’t translate such thoughts into action. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t count however. An example would be growing up as a majority race, in a community where people use derogatory terms without realizing their offensive nature. Even though the person eventually learns the true meanings of such words, and avoids using them, the mindset is already there, and that’s the hardest thing to get rid of. Our subconscious thoughts are powerful indeed, and we may end up acting according to our ‘pre-programmed’ concept of whatever, since it has been accepted as the norm since childhood. The only way to eliminate this, we have to go to the root of the problem, which basically encompasses convincing every single person to eliminate all traces of prejudice, discrimination and bias from their minds. Clearly this is not a feasible plan of action, simply because it’s impossible to change everyone, and educate them on more proper social norms instead.
Other reasons why prejudice is so rampant is due to herd behaviour, and the belief of strength in numbers. Once many people start being prejudiced, it becomes accepted as a norm, and the cycle continues. Stereotypes play a big role as well, for insults, prejudice, and discrimination are often directed not to a single person, but to a preconceived image of the entire race/religion/gender/etc. To further complicate things, stereotypes are equally as hard to eliminate. Just enter any bathroom in a shopping center, and chances are it’ll be either purple or variations of pink for the ladies, and blue or black for the gents. Whoever decided that girls liked pink and boys liked blue? Surely someone didn’t just sit down one day and decide the colour preferences of the genders in one fell swoop. And since stereotypes, the basis of most prejudice, are hard to eradicate, it in turn means prejudice itself is hard to get rid of. Hence, I agree that prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of.
“YouTube has no ethics, it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.” Do you agree?
I agree mostly with the statement. Ethics, by definition, are moral values or rules of conduct. In context of YouTube, it refers to the website posting copyright material, videos which invade privacy, inappropriate content, etc. Technically, YouTube itself has only one main purpose: to serve as a medium through which people can view or upload videos, comment on others, join groups or subscribe to various channels. Clearly the intention here is to keep entertainment, and sharing of videos in mind. YouTube also has certain policies and rules, especially regarding copyright laws.
It grants users the ability to report videos which infringe copyright laws, as well as flag videos with inappropriate or unsavoury content. However, due to the sheer volume of videos archived, uploaded each day, and viewed, it is nigh impossible for YouTube staff to closely monitor and report every single case of infringement. Thus the onus lies mainly on the users of YouTube to uphold integrity, responsibiliy and honesty, and not post such materials. It's much easier in theory, for in reality people not only continue to post such videos, but most of the time they can't be bothered to report copyright infringement. As such, the problem lies not only with the medium, but the people who abuse the medium as well. In a nutshell, it can be said that technically, YouTube has ethics set in stone(ie, the Code of Conduct and Copyright Guidelines) , just that its users usually either fail to adhere to it, or are not numerous enough to constantly trawl the site and filter out inappropriate videos.
YouTube is free to use, so it cashes in on its immense popularity, and makes money through advertisements, because advertisers are ensured maximum exposure on a website which millions of people view each day. Thus, to generate revenue, YouTube has to continue drawing people to its site. and in order to do that, it needs interesting content. Inevitably, it ends up being a vicious cycle: people ignore the rules and post copyright/inappropriate material, many people view it, traffic and thus revenue increases, people don’t report copyright infringement, YouTube is willing to close one eye and grudgingly/half-heartedly takes down videos only when urged to, so people more confidently ignore the rules, and so on.
However, though YouTube’s main purpose is entertainment, there are other videos on varying topics as well. There are scientific oddities caught on camera and posted, videos on how to fold your clothes in an easier way, a visual walkthrough of medical issues (like how to deal with flu, diabetes, autism etc.) and sometimes just completely random videos like blowing up a watermelon with dry ice and laughing hysterically for ages afterward. (or here for something stranger). It can be used to disseminate educational videos as well, for students who pursue online courses or missed 1 or 2 lectures. Therefore, I agree mostly with the statement.
Monday, March 26, 2007
blehblahblehtesting
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