The Power of Facebook
November 4, 2009
I have a feeling that many people reading this blog have already seen the Facebook group that I’m about to discuss and which prompted this blog post. If not, take a look at this website: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2250482938&ref=ts .
This group was started by one guy that wanted to turn his house into a pirate ship. According to the website, if the one million people on Facebook join the group then this man’s girlfriend will allow him to make the changes. The group has reached 1,305,033 and constantly growing. I am a member of this group because personally I think it’s hilarious, but I felt the need to write about it because the amount of interest that it received absolutely astounds me.
Over one million people from all over the country have joined a group that essentially is pointless. What makes people so interested in such topics as this, while it’s difficult to retain interest, particularly for young people, in real serious issues? Is it the way that information is being accessed? Truthfully I really have no idea what the reason for this is, but maybe this finding could be put to good use. Although Facebook is seen as a purely social website, it could be beneficial for more serious issues to be presented to America’s youth through this portal. It would likely be highly effective in promoting interest and educating many people. Using Facebook in a more serious manner could definitely be an innovative, sneaky way to promote important matters within society.
Response to Setter101′s Blog: Athletes as Role Models
October 7, 2009
Another blogger, Setter101, recently posted about how professional athletes are negative role models for kids. She pointed to the fact that many athletes are caught using steroids and their attitudes encourage kids to play through their injuries. I have to disagree with this perspective. Although it is true that there are several sports figures that aren’t worth the attention they’re paid, it is only expected that within a given population (professional athletes) there would be a few bad seeds. There are plenty of men and women in sports that do a lot of good with the power that they hold over society. A lot of them use their status to do charity work or other things that bring good to society. Most athletes also personify the ideals of hard work, perseverance, determination, teamwork, healthy competition, an active lifestyle, and sportsmanship. Watching professional sports also teach kids about following the rules of a game and give them someone other than a family member to emulate, allowing them to dream big.
In my opinion the bigger problem with this issue is why the sports figures that cause trouble, the ones using drugs or acting inappropriately, seem to be the ones that gain the most media attention. It is not so much a question of if athletes are good role models, but a question of why the good role models seem to be ignored. Rather than focusing so heavily on the negative things that athletes do, it would be far more beneficial to take a look at the media, who are aiming to serve their own interests, and focus on what change they can make to promote the ideals of better role models. Much more good could come from positive, hardworking athletes being promoted to young kids, than bashing the few bad athletes.
The Danger of Teens …
October 6, 2009
A few days ago my mom called me and as we were talking, she told me about two more bomb threats that took place at my younger brother’s middle school. That makes it the third one this year alone, and at only a month and a half into school. It started to make me question what is causing such extreme behavior from such young kids. With each bomb scare comes parent anger, student fear, police intervention, new stations coverage, and the potential of evacuations, which brings about a whole new set of problems with trying to find buses and a place for an entire school’s members. I can certainly understand the idea of being bored in school, or looking for a break in the mundane repetition of daily school activities, but threatening to harm the school building or people in it seems crazy to me. Tewksbury Memorial High School is also now suffering from the types of students that are being sent there – private schools are taking away the best students and the local technical high schools are taking those stronger students that can’t afford a private school. What is left is all of the students that cause the trouble in the first place, lowering the standards of the school, and fostering a lower learning environment. It’s become a vicious circle, the schools getting worse each year, and accreditation in jeopardy. I don’t know exactly what, but something needs to be done to make a huge change in the schooling systems.
I’ve also attached below a link to a story about a local worker that was injured at Livingston Street park, home of different sports fields and a teen center, where a homemade bomb was set off when he picked it up, not knowing what it really was. This provides further proof that teens in Tewksbury are causing serious problems within the town …
