Young Voices
Exchanging ideas from the show and blogging about topics in the news from a range of perspectives.
March 24, 2008
Kids in a Candy Store
by Rose Capozzi
“The best thing the government can do for people to promote healthier lifestyles is to stop legislating what kinds of foods can be ingested and start requiring transparency”
I think we're all aware that Americans need to teach their children better eating habits. Recently, instead of leaving it up to parents, many states and local governments are weaning schools from unhealthy school menus and vending machines, all in the hopes that by limiting access to junk food, kids will magically come to the realization that the best way to live healthy is through a balanced diet. Too bad that plan has backfired.
The Drudge Report featured a very interesting story about what happened to one school that banned junk food, including candy and other sugary favorites. Even though these unhealthy options were no longer made available in the school lunch lines and vending machines, some students began lucrative candy-selling businesses, selling sugary confections and earning wads of cash.
So what was the result of the government's intervention? One teacher reported that there is as much candy and soda in his school as ever. As to the intent behind the program, the teacher said, “I think its original purpose was pretty good, but it doesn't seem to be making that big of a difference."
The best thing the government can do for people to promote healthier lifestyles is to stop legislating what kinds of foods can be ingested and start requiring transparency to inform buyers of what they are consuming. It may be easier to tell people that they can't have something, but wouldn't we all be much better off if we were told the facts and left to make up our own mind, whether that means eating a Chocolate Bunny during this Easter Holiday, or opting for a nutritious salad?
March 7, 2008
Casting Call
by Rose Capozzi
Hollywood makes some strange decisions when it comes to casting actors in films. This is the premise of a new movie, in which Robert Downey, Jr. plays a white actor hired to play a black man in a film. The movie, called Tropic Thunder , is going to be a comedy co-starred by Ben Stiller and Jack Black. But is this too sensitive of a subject to laugh about?
My first reaction to the leaked pictures was, "Wow, he really does look like a black man." My second reaction was, "Wow, people in Hollywood really do think its funny to cast a white guy to play a black guy." According to one movie review site, the film takes a stab at Hollywood egos, which most of us can appreciate. But the topic the movie is ridiculing is part of the entertainment industry's dark past. To bring it up in a modern setting seems a little tasteless.
I might remain a skeptic, but Robert Downey, Jr. thinks he's standing on solid ethical ground. He told some reporters, “At the end of the day, it's always about how well you commit to the character. I dove in with both feet. If I didn't feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I'm just C. Thomas Howell in [Soul Man], I would've stayed home.”
For those who missed Soul Man, it was a terrible movie in which a white guy makes himself look like a black guy in order to get financial aid for college. It was supposed to be funny in a 1986 kind of way; it wasn't. Rather, movies like Soul Man, or, more recently, White Chicks, emphasize differences in races, using stereotypes to get cheap laughs and avoid serious content. Let 's hope that Downey hasn't made the same mistake.
March 16, 2008
Viewer Discretion
by Sean Nixon
“What was the rationale to have all the other words removed from the airing and keep the N-word in?”
Some films that air on cable have content that is at times a bit obscene, offensive or abrasive, and as such usually get edited out. What's interesting as of late are the words that didn't get edited out.
On Sunday March 9, 2008 the USA network aired Training Day with Denzel Washington and The 40-Year-Old Virgin with Steve Carell. Both films arguably placed a viewer discretion notice prior to the film's airings, but for all the edits of the B-word, D-word and a host of other FCC-restricted words, the one word that the network let air in its entirety was the N-word.
Here's a question: What was the rationale used to have all the other words removed from the airing of the film and keep the N-word in?
Here's another question: Should cable programmers and broadcasters be responsible for the content that they air when it comes to language, or is it an obstruction of creative license to the filmmaker to edit their content in any way?
On Friday, March 14 and Sunday, March 16, 2008 the film Glory Road was aired on TNT. The film depicted the struggles and triumphs of one of the first collegiate schools in the South to start all African American players on the basketball court in the 1960's.
In the film, scenes were depicted that were indicative of the time period, including the use of the N-word. When black players returned from a game or a practice while on the road, they would return to the motel they were staying in only to find the N-word splattered across the motel room walls in red letters telling them to “die” and “Go Home”.
The moments depicted offer a glimpse of some of the harsh realities the team faced in the racially charged era of the sixties. In allowing the story to be told in the manner that they did, TNT exposed the harsh truths that actually existed in that time frame. The same cannot be said about the liberal use of the N-word in the previous two films mentioned.
When concerns over free speech vs. the editing of a films content arise, arguments are made for both sides. The question now is whether people agreed or disagreed with the airing of Training Day and The 40-Year-Old Virgin the way they did.
Was the company justified in their decision?
March 30, 2008
Ham-Handed Rigging
by Rose Capozzi
Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980, has never been subtle. This is a man best known for redistributing land based on race and for creating the world's highest inflation rate (100,580%) in what was once considered southern Africa's second-biggest economy.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice didn't mince words when she told reporters on Sunday that, "The Mugabe regime is a disgrace to the people of Zimbabwe and a disgrace to southern Africa and to the continent of Africa as a whole.'' And, with only a 20% employment rate, it is hardly surprising that thousands of Zimbabweans are either starving or emigrating.
Yet, all this did not stop Mugabe from seeking his fifth presidential term this week, against opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. As of now, Tsvangirai has garnered 67% of the 30% of votes counted. Secretary General Tendai Biti said in an interview on Sunday that, "This is just an example of what we're getting from every province. Barring a miracle, Mugabe can't win.''
However, the state-run Zimbabwe Election Commission has not yet "fully processed" the results of an election in which only 9,000 Zimbabweans were allowed to vote. The most likely reason for this is that the Mugabe administration doesn't like the results. But really, how long does it take to rig an election?
March 21, 2008
Hospital Overdoses Two-Week-Old Twins
by Sean Nixon
Quaid opens up with wife Kimberly in a 60 minutes interview.
Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly spoke out about the tragic ordeal faced when their two-week-old twins were given the wrong dosage of medication while in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California.
The couple appeared on 60 Minutes speaking to journalist Steve Kroft to share their story and shed light on the facts.
According to the family, the twins were given a drug that's typically used for thinning blood, but the dosage was so high, it virtually turned the babies' blood into the consistency of water.
In investigating the story, reporters found out that the Quaids' story wasn't unique. One site reports that heparin, the drug used on the Quaids' twins, is a drug that is often used—and misused—across the country.
Quaid says that there are hundreds of thousands of people a year who are killed by medical mistakes.
He goes on to say that there's a certain “inherent trust” that men and women have for health care practitioners. To a degree, people believe that the doctors and nurses who operate and perform medical work on their loved ones are skillfully trained to prevent these types of medical mistakes from happening.
In the wake of this story however, it's a trust that may have to be revisited carefully.
This story raises questions about the level of care doctors and nurses provide in hospitals, as well as the need for individuals to find out as much as they can about the care that's being received.
Most men and women in the health field are skilled and trained to deal with some of the world's biggest medical emergencies, but that doesn't give the rest of us the right to sit back and let them work without us knowing exactly what is taking place.
The twins seemed to have recovered from this episode, and the hospital has been fined. The issue still remains however that we must be our own best stewards of ensuring our loved ones are receiving the best care possible. If we don't, who knows what the consequences might be.
March 14, 2008
Scandal, Scandal, Scandal
by Rose Capozzi
Do you remember when all the political scandals in the media were about Republicans? Larry Craig at the airport; Jack Abramoff in the halls of Congress; Alberto Gonzales at Ashcroft's hospital bed....
Well, now it's the Democrats' turn.
First, there's Elliot Spitzer. As the former attorney general of New York, he fought prostitution, corporate greed, and corruption. As the (now) former governor of New York, all he will be known for is resigning his public office as a hypocrite, tied to a prostitution ring, and having questionable financial practices.
Second, there's Geraldine Ferraro. A (former) fundraiser for presidential-hopeful Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ferraro was once the running mate to Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election. Now, she's the center of a new, race-related scandal. Ferraro was quoted as saying, "If (Barack) Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is.”
A lot of people, Obama included, have denounced Ferraro's statement as racist and divisive. However, Ferraro's statement wasn't obviously racist, compared to what she said about Jesse Jackson in 1988. Is the real scandal that Ferraro said it, or that Clinton was willing to have her on the campaign in the first place?
Finally, there's Kwame Kilpatrick, mayor of Detroit. As my fellow Young Voices contributer, Sean Nixon, wrote, Kilpatrick showed his love for Detroit by sending raunchy text messages to a former top aide, possibly having an affair, and maybe even lying under oath during a criminal investigation. Remind you of anything?
To make matters worse, Kilpatrick commented in his State of the City address that, “In the past 30 days, I've been called a n----- more than any time in my entire life. In the past three days I have received more death threats than I have in my entire administration. I've heard these words before, but I've never heard people say them about my wife and children.”
Shame on you, people of Detroit, for making this a race issue. But even more shame on you, Mr. Kilpatrick (and all the other politicals I mentioned here), for being part of a scandal in the first place.
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