Reflective essay

When I first watched this video, I thought that this old guy was one of nostalgia people in America, which really annoyed me. It is one of my pet peeves if people keep looking back into the past. And besides, I thought that he didn't have any right to say that America isn't the best country in the world, since lots of people have their own opinion on that. But the more time I gave to thinking about it, I realized that this guy was right. I realized that America wasn't all that great to some people. America might have been this great nation a few decades ago, but now, even its citizens frown upon it. Even though I love America because of my friends and Chipotle, this speech really affected me because he was telling the truth, the hidden truth that most of us can't see- no, refuse to see- just like the title of this three minute video.

The first reason of why this video stands true is of music. A lot of people in the U.S. are growing up with extremely bad taste in music, because the producers and mostly the singers are like freaks. Especially the rappers. I won't judge them since I cannot rap or sing better than them yet, but they are ruining the reputation of America and staining the mark of music. I'm not being a nostalgia-obsessed person, but I have to admit, music before was better. There are still the shining stars among the black holes, but it isn't what it used to be.

The second reason is the children of America. The children of America think that they don't have enough, enough fun and games. They have iPhones and all kinds of things that we didn't have when we were little children. We had Pokemon cards and action figures, for the sake of humanity. They use bad words that I won't post here. They say that in kindergarten! I thought stupid was a bad word, in fact, the worst word in the history of existence in second grade. They are just messed up these days.

The final reason is that about love. I personally know a lot of people who change their boyfriends and girlfriends every few weeks. "All they want are touches,"- a real quote from my friend, and I know it's inappropriate, but it's true. Most of the un-devoted people do.  We live in a world where we throw away things when they break. When our hearts break, when they shatter into million pieces. We don't try to fix it. We think that we can't fix it. That's why the world's so full of hate and detest. Many people forgot how to forgive. How to fix your heart. Our hearts are not what it used to be. It is a heart of stone; unopened to the possibilities that lie just beyond the horizon.

My Reaction to KONY 2012

KONY 2012 AUGMENTATIVE ESSAY 

I am known for my emotionless poker face and seemingly unimpressed expression. My reputation for my blank face did not change when I saw the KONY 2012 video, although I must admit, I saw the videos and pictures that criticized KONY first on many sites, such as 9gag and Facebook. I have to say that I had a hard time deciding on whether KONY was a big fraud or not, since both sides were so persuasive. I decided that I am not completely for it nor against it, although I am mostly on the "against KONY" side. It persuaded me for three main reasons; only part of the money donated to "Invisible Children", the group founded by Jason Russell, the person who made KONY famous, and that the group is supportive of a direct military intervention. But the most shocking thing for me is that most people- so called "activists"- don't really know much about the cause and are just jumping on the bandwagon. I won't (and can't) deny Joesph Kony is a bad guy, a terrible criminal, but instead, I'm simply saying that KONY 2012 is a big fraud, and that one should not believe whatever they hear or see.

I believed in KONY a bit when I first saw it, despite all the demotivational posters and criticism it got, but unlike some people, I didn't believe it all the way. I did some research before getting heated up on the issue, and found that only 31% actually go to the real cause. This is because the group, "Invisible Children" uses it for other uses. Other uses that include but are not limited to; lining the pockets of the three people in charge of the operation, pay for their traveling expenses, and funds their film-making business. Although 31% is actually a quite big sum of money, considering a lot of people have donated, but there are so many other way to help them more directly and more efficiently, such as donating to organizations such as "Save the Children", or "Doctors Without Borders" etc. They should be true to what they stated in the video.

The second reason is that KONY 2012 is in favor of a direct military intervention. I do not support this, because the U.S. is already involved. Not only that, Kony is already pushed out of Uganda. I believe this is something like the 9/11 event, when people demanded troops sent to Iraq. This eventually turned into a war for oil, not to fight terrorism.

The final reason is that most people don't really know anything about the cause, and they just jump in the bandwagon because of two reasons; their friends are doing it, or they really just believe whatever YouTube tells them. For their information, there are not thousands of children in his resistance army, but in fact, there are only 250 soldiers. (in March of 2012) Also, to get to Kony, you'd have to kill some of his army, which includes children. Kony was not active in Uganda for six years, and is instead active in other surrounding countries. Additionally, I really don't think that forwarding a video makes one an activist. Before one believes information provided by YouTube or such and getting swept up by a new trend or fad, they should at least research a bit.

 

Find the lie~

I'm going to post two truths and one lie about myself... Try to find the lie!

1. Not many people have more friend of their opposite gender, but I am an exception. Nearly 90% of my friends are guys. Most of my friends live in Virginia, but we chill sometimes over Facebook, Skype, Oovoo, and Facetime. Some of my friends are from Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Georgia, Vietnam, Russia, China, Japan, India, Italy, and from Lichtenstein, the smallest (official) country in the world.... I think..

2. Last year, when I was in Virginia, I was hanging out with my friends, watching a scary movie when suddenly the TV turned off. We all screamed like little girls when the ground started shaking. It was really sort of scary because vases were rattling and that sort of stuff. Afterwards my friends and I laughed it off.

3. When I was in elementary school, I was second chair flute for all-district band. When I went to middle school, I joined the symphonic band and auditioned for the all-county band. Surprisingly, I got accepted, along with Paul Dell (Flute) Anthony Panetta (Tuba) and Krystof Petras (Trombone). For the concert, I remember playing a piece called "The Lords of Greenwich" where I got to play a piccolo.