April 2012
60 posts
Obesity and Overreaching
Reading this week’s articles involving obesity, it becomes readily apparent that the government considers obesity to be beyond a mere matter of personal choice. Reading President Kennedy’s piece in which he calls upon Americans to better their physical fitness as a means of patriotic service, one could easily make the assumption that this is an antiquated example of Cold War politics,...
A Widening Issue (Pun)
Stereotyping occurs whether it is consciously or subconsciously. For many foreign citizens, one generally agreed upon concept is that Americans are fat, and its true as 30.6% of the United States’ population is made up of people dealing with obesity. This statistic is over 6% higher than any other country, and rates show no sign of a steep or even gradual change. America needs to change its ways...
The War on America
When on paper many ideas can seem like they will work out, but history has told us otherwise time and again. The war on drugs (not to be confused with any of the other wars the United States has waged on non-human entities) sounds and appears to be an effective campaign eliminating potential threats inside as well as outside its borders, but it has proved to be a nominal menace to the...
profit in prisons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Pz8mG-chs1E
This reminded me of some class discussion we had. figured i would share
Doomed to be Obese
It has become quite clear that obesity is becoming a growing problem for not only the United States but also the world. “The two most common and well-known reasons for obesity are lack of exercise and eating unhealthy foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value. Probably 80 to 90 percent of people are overweight due to these reasons” (Ramm). However, the problem lies in who is...
Obesity in America
It is clear that the people of the United States have progressively grown fatter over the decades leading up to today. Studies show that though calorie expenditure has not increased much over the last thirty years, calories taken in have risen significantly. This begs the question: Why? Today, people tend to eat prepared meals, rather than cook their own meals, because they are quick and...
Trying to Knockout Obesity
Because of the rapidly growing obese population in the United States, the fight against obesity had been the most popular American war. It had led to the development of various fitness equipments, such as treadmills and bowflex, an assorted array of weight-loss nutrition foods, such as Slim-Fast!, and now, laws that would lead to the taxation of high fat and high sugar foods. According to this...
The Timeless Nation
Are national identities really as timeless as they seem? Well, not really…
http://youtu.be/e8OEuj6-pVg
—Sebastian
War on Obesity
More than any other country in the world, obesity is a high priority issue in America. According to one article assigned in class, “despite our good food and our many playgrounds, despite our emphasis on school athletics, American youth lagged far behind Europeans in physical fitness. Six tests for muscular strength and flexibility were given; 57.9% of the American children failed one or...
The War on Obesity
I had a friend who taught English in a French high school for a year. Her students did not believe that she was American. When she queried the reasoning behind their disbelief, they said, “Because you’re not fat.”
My experience studying abroad in France paralleled this comment, as I endured many lectures from the French about the negative eating habits that Americans practice,...
Blaming the Victim: An Evolutionary Obesity Bias?
Obesity is unlike many other illnesses in that a strong negative bias is associated with it. Obese people are often shunned and rejected because of their physical appearance. We all play in to this to some degree: although it is not shameful to prefer a more fit sexual partner, many of us come to see the obese as lazy and stupid. Obesity is often derided as a non-ailment. As if obese people are...
Obesity
It is no secret that Childhood obesity in America is a huge concern and serious issue among the growing population. John F. Kennedy does a great job in his article, “The Soft America,” bringing awareness to the fact that our nation is unlike any other. Physical fitness tests have proven that America lags far behind Europe in this aspect. The decline of physical fitness is clearly consistent and...
The Physical Decline of America
In The Soft American President John F. Kennedy starts by talking about the Greeks, and other high achieving Western societies, who believed that physical soundness is an important quality. President Kennedy argues Americans are becoming soft, losing their physical strength. This physical decline can be attributed to conveniences like television and movies. In response to this physical decline...
Tipping the Scales
The view that the moral and physical vigor of a nation is dependent on the robustness of the individual citizen is a theme that has been around for centuries. A harmonious combination of physical vigor, pristine character and mental aptitude in the individual is seen as vital to the strength and longevity of the nation. The atrophy of these qualities in the individual can be perceived as a threat...
International Epidemic
Disease is a type of phenomenon that has the potential to strike anyone at any given time in any location. However, there are areas around the world that have been stricken with disease due to poor environmental standards and poverty. Our world runs on economic assistance when it comes down to medical aid and it is almost inevitable to try to help everyone when countries have poor...
Obesity as a Culture
For this blog post, I will focus on the article entitled “The Soft American.” It focuses on the importance of physical fitness in health and also in defending our countries and ourselves in general for survival. Even dating back to ancient times, the Greeks placed great emphasis on physical fitness, and apparently so does everyone else except the United States, which has staggering...
Getting Soft: Are You “Lovin’ It” ???
When JFK wrote about the “Soft American” in December of 1960, he started his essay with the legacy of the Olympian games. The Greek tradition, he claimed, was the foundation of the “vigor and vitality” respected throughout the Western world.
Today, the Olympic tradition no longer juxtaposes the “Soft America” that JFK warned us about. In fact, it has become soft itself. Ironically, it is the...
Obesity Epidemic
Diet related diseases kill more people in the country than tobacco, AIDS or Alcohol. Cardiovascular, Diabetes, Hyper tension are one of the many diet related diseases that are mostly preventable. Changing our eating habits can have a tremendous impact on our lives. Of course as we discussed in class, it is not easy to change our diet. Had we been told to eat healthy, (by our parents on the most...
The Attack on the Global South
As we saw last week, the US has seen an increase in zero-tolerance policing, repressive tactics, exclusion from the population tactics and the militarization of its police force. In the article, “Neoliberal Globalization and the War on drugs” , we learn that since 1973 violent crime rates (in the US) have remained stable and property crime rates have fallen. What, then, is to account for the...
Awkward Allies: The Visa Waiver
The suggestions of visa related legislation are once again popping up in Washington. This time around, it is Sen. Charles E. Schumer, proposing that a number of nations are added to the Visa Waiver Program. The proposed legislation would allow potentially Polish nationals to visit the United States in a fashion identical to the other EU citizens.
I use terms like “once again” and “this time...
Drugs, Borders, and Deception
The readings centered on drug wars and the politics that come with them. Like the works from other weeks, these articles discussed the militarization of security. It contributed to prior dialogue by providing examples of how newfound power leads to government corruption, potentially excessive categorization of what counts as a drug, and failure to truly address the underlying issues....
Legalize Illegal Drugs?
The enforcement of illegal drugs cost vast amounts of money. Some had even doubted the effectiveness of the drug war programs. George F. Will argues in his article that the prohibition of drugs does not work. He said that, “More Americans are imprisoned for drug offenses or drug-related probation and parole violations than for property crimes. And although America spends five times more jailing...
Enforcement over Prevention
In America the common theme with almost all industries is the idea of only treating problems and not preventing them from happening in the first place. Doctors prescribe drugs that treat symptoms of an illness but may not do anything to prevent the disease from ever occurring or happening again. The same is true on the war on drugs. “The problem is those other two bars called “Interdiction”...
Drug Wars
The topic of drugs is a highly controversial one in American society. Despite its banishment from the legal point of view of the law, there is an undeniable and large drug culture that exists within society today. How can the government police what people put in their own bodies? Why are tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine legal while narcotics such as marijuana are illegal? Does there need to actually...
A Useless War
In The limits of anti-drug policy in Mexico Luis Astorga discusses the relationship between drug trafficking and political authorities, and how that relationship has changed over the last 15 years. Drug traffickers used to be submissive to political authorities and because of this submissiveness violence was kept at a socially acceptable level. However, because of conflict between the political...
Ban it and they will come: Substance Prohibition
We all know this story. It’s the Roaring Twenties and the Eighteenth Amendment gets ratified. Booze is outlawed and goes underground. American Mafia, Al Capone et al, make million on illegal alcohol sales. Next comes the repeal, and alcohol prohibition is replaced by alcohol taxation. Today the government makes money on just about anything alcoholic; meanwhile, the legendary criminals of Chicago...
International Drug Trafficking
Globalized crime has escalated not only through political controversies and economic scandals, but through international drug trafficking. The trading of illegal substances has been an issue that has been studied crucially due to the interconnectedness of geographical areas across the globe. For example, the US underestimates how foreign officials deal with donated aircrafts and materials when...
Of Borders and Missiles
National borders, those imaginary lines that supposedly need to be protected at all cost, are not very impartial entities. As we discussed in class last week, the way borders control humans (visa regime) is completely different from how consumer goods or even ideas travel. Super biased. Another pesky object that cares little for obtaining travel papers is the Cold War staple known as a long-range...
Deregulation of Drugs = Peace?
For this blog post, I will focus on a point made in the reading “Talking About the Flow” by Paul Gootenberg. He states that “a greater policing squeeze at borders, or across them to chase down couriers, refiners, or drug-growing peasants, leads to a wider dispersion of illicit activities into even more inaccessible and intractable drug territories—deserts, jungles, mountains....
War on Drugs
Regarding the Neoliberal War on Drugs, it is evident that illegal drug trafficking and drug and alcohol dependency does produce substantial violence in societies, especially among the poor and homeless and against marginalized subjects by narco-business people and states. The war on drugs leaves out of consideration the lengths that this violence is caused by the use of authoritarian power to...
The Demand Side: Externalizing the Drug War
In class and in the readings, we have talked a lot about how the drug war is being fought on two distinct fronts: at home in the US where drugs are consumed, and abroad in sites of drug production. This creates a twofold war: where the US combats the drug “problem” both by apprehending distributors and users at home, and by partnering with other countries to target drug production and...
The Fight Against Drugs
In the article “The limits of anti-drug policy in Mexico,” The author makes it clear that drug trafficking came into being or was made possible to become such a large business is due to political authorities who made large profits upon it. Another cause of it would be the post revolutionary power structure. Drug trafficking is the result of poor political control in Mexico. Later towards the end...
Center Patrol
Many countries, excluding the few island nations, have immigrants relocating into their territory in extensive numbers through out each year. For whatever reason they have to cross the borders, most, if not all, find work in their new country of choice. The employment aspect is one of the largest conflicts with illegal immigration, but luckily the flow of illegal immigrants from outside of the...
Toothpaste Confessions
In reading the Global Visa Regime, I am reminded why I hate to fly. I am old enough to remember a time when the most inconvenient thing about air travel was that you couldn’t find an available blanket. Now you’re practically disrobing, you can be patted down, they search through your dirty underwear and if I have to throw out one more tube of toothpaste because it might be hazmat material……But I...
The Controversies of Immigration Enforcement
In the reading on the post 9/11 immigration enforcement practices, the author makes a few poignant points. The first is that post 9/11 immigration law enforcement methods is really an acceleration of a trend that began in the mid 1990’s, during the Clinton presidency, exemplified by a provision in immigration law named Section 287 g, which basically allows local law enforcement to act as...
Border Assemblages
From the beginning of Communist Russia until the end of WWII, Russian political ideology described the nation as being a “besieged fortress” to the rest of the world. That is, there were always forces seeking to overthrow and influence Soviet Russia. The notion of a “besieged fortress” is that there are threats around the world that are constantly trying to infiltrate and...
Border Control: Defensive & Offensive
After numerous foreign attacks by terrorists, targeted countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, defended the border of their country with innumerable security checks. Almost everything is thoroughly searched: your luggage, your shoes, your clothes, your jewelry (metal detectors), your wallet (personal experience), and with today’s advanced technology, the inside of your body is...
Border Security
With the creation of any space there is an eminent need to create borders, which represent the defining line between the space and the outside. This is no different in the case of establishing nations and the borders that separate one nation from another. In the United States the issue of immigration and regulating traffic flow in and out of the country is a topic of great concern. Recent laws...
Liberty and Justice For All?
This week’s readings focalized on the increased aggressive security at physical borders but, more important, they analyzed the pervasive omnipresence of such border relations in everyday life. Specific examples include the domestic criminalization of immigration law and legislation like the Patriot Act that encourages surveillance of presumed invaders. This high level of control, that even local...
Terra Nullius: Borders as Inclusion
In class, we talked a lot about borders being a means of exclusion. In the United States, we use our borders as a filter: letting in things, people, and ideas we want and blocking those we don’t. To many people, the border represents the first line of defense for a nation: militarily, politically, legally, and culturally. But this analysis alone does not capture the true nature of borders,...
The Evolution of Borders
In Border/Control William Walters discusses the evolution of the idea of borders. Borders, which have for a long time been associated with military defense and commercial regulation, are now more about control rather than discipline. Discipline societies use borders to arrest and regulate movement, clear up confusion, and establish calculated distributions. On the other hand, control societies...
Borders and Boundaries
When one thinks of borders, what normally comes to mind is a clear and distinct separation between places. Borders are much more than just physical boundaries between areas; they invoke the thought that one entity would like to separate itself from another. Though two nations can be literally touching at the border, that boundary is used as a distancing device to inform others that these entities...
Crossing the Border
The American-Mexican border conflict has constantly been under continuous surveillance due to the high volume of illegal immigrants and illegal substances being crossed over. Mexican citizens have always been under the impression that American would be there refuge from their home country where they would be living the “American dream,” which consists of home with a stable, decent...
Debordering?
The spread of globalization in the second half of the 20th century led some to predict a borderless world, linked by networks that’s would facilitate the seamless movement of both people and commerce. This concept of debordering has been tempered in the 21st century with the reality it is more of a rebordering, in which not only do understanding of space and location shift, but so do the...
Biometrics: Risks vs. Potential Gains
With the advent of new technology and advanced ways of surveilling, the idea of borders are not so black and white anymore. Geographically, borders commonly used to be a physical wall designed to keep people in and others out. Borders are no longer clearly defined. They are mainly a line on a map now, and depending where those lines lie, borders entail anything from military protection to violence...
Borders
Border/Control by William Walters was the article I decided to center my focus on. I was intrigued by Walters search to bring a new meaning to the idea of border control. Border control is evolving and seems to be becoming more similar to policing as corruption increases. While border control exists mainly to control movement of citizens, regulate immigration and prevent smuggling or spread of...
The Two Kashmirs
In William Walters article, Border/Control the author observes and analyzes ways in which the western states conduct policing in, changing the nature of border control. Like how we discussed in class, border becomes difficult to imagine as a simple line. While borders can be sites where laws are enforced, with the reach of technology, borders are simply every where.
Just three days ago, 139...
Mali, military juntas, and coups
Here’s a link to a number of the articles about Mali that Meisan brought up today in class:
Predictive Policing
A new computer program has been in use by the LA Police Department since last year to tackle crime. The program suggests the areas where crime is most likely to occur in future. The program is increasingly gaining attention from law enforcement agencies that have been affected by budget cuts.
Predictive policing in LA is an example of what the authors of “Dealing with Disorder”...
The New Jim Crow
I first heard of Michelle Alexander while driving home listening to NPR. Ms. Alexander spoke about the ongoing assault on young black men in the US in terms of racial profiling, disenfranchisement and the exploding prison population. It is well known by now that Ronald Reagan’s “War on Drugs” was primarily a race war known as “The Southern Strategy”. That it was racially coded to appeal to poor...
