Entry #9 (Eng 102) - Music is the Breath of Life

It speaks the feelings we can't describe with our own words

 Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  All too often I would hear a song and follow along to the lyrics and get a sense of "this song is absolutely about how I'm feeling."  Whether it was a situation at school or at home or just personal to me, music became a way to find understanding, a way to feel as though I wasn't the only person feeling that way.  How could I be with someone who has captured that feeling so poignantly in the lyrics of a song?  

As I've gotten older I've come to realize that my feelings toward music isn't unique to just me.  I use it as a tool in a lot of ways.  Sometimes it's a stress-reliever.  Sometimes music becomes my inspiration.  Sometimes I crank it up in the car and start a playlist with heavy base music to help me wake up or 'pump up' for a long day ahead.  I've used music to relax or to psych myself up before a difficult test.  Sometimes I just play it and have it in the background while I'm working on things because it's soothing to have the music there instead of just silence.  

With the recent writing project we've been working on in my English class about the power of media, I pretty much immediately knew I wanted to write about the power of music.  It's fascinated me for a long time and in studying history as well I've seen how music has played an integral part of a lot of major movements throughout history.  Through my own experiences I've seen how personal and powerful music can make me feel, so in a way I wasn't surprised to find out that music could create such a powerful impact within social movements. 

 I've noticed, and admittedly I've been watching for this, how many people listen to music on their phones.  Around campus I see innumerable amounts of people with earbuds in, scrolling through their phones while listening to whatever playlist they have going.  I've seen the same at work, when CNA's go to the mounted computers to do their charting, more than a few play music on their phones.  Some even have music playing faintly from their phones in their pockets while they're working on getting patient's up and ready for the day first thing in the morning.  I've also noticed that what they listen to has a lot to do with their mood.  In the mornings the music is usually upbeat, something they play and work to, something which sets a pace for them.  Later throughout the day the music tends to end up shifting towards more of what I would call "disgruntled" music.  That is, music which tends to have a heavier beat and is a bit more expressive of emotions that lean more towards the angry and annoyed emotions.  At work, music tends to become a form of stress relief.  

I admit I'm guilty of judging some music before I really give it a chance.  I've discovered that if I stop judging music first and give it a chance, often I find myself pleasantly surprised.  Now, angry, screaming music isn't exactly my preferred choice in music.  However, when I've had a particularly stressful day, I have to say that when I can't scream, sometimes it helps to listen to someone else doing it. 

This is just a big no-no.  My 'favorite' song changes regularly.  Sometimes I'm in the mood for a certain sound and when that song comes on, woe onto any who reaches for the radio buttons.  Realizing this made certain interactions with my brothers and parents while in the car fighting over the radio stations suddenly make so much more sense.  I think I understand far better now why sometimes my parents wanted to listen to slower, more relaxing songs.  Lord knows with my brothers and me they probably needed all the calming influences they could get. 

When all the noise, all the beeps and random voices, and conversations, at work start to get to be a bit overwhelming, I've found myself replaying sons in my head.  Sometimes it's not even the whole song, just a line here or there or the chorus, something to focus on and keep my mind engaged instead of being pulled in all different directions from all that's happening around me.  For all the in-depth, grand scale ways that I have read about music being influential and impacting people and social movements and the sort, I have to say that the most immediate way that I see the power that music holds is how it applies to a person individually.  Then again, maybe that's what has given music the power to be so influential on a grander scale.  It isn't how it speaks to a whole group but rather how it speaks to the individual who becomes more engaged because of how the music reached to them and spoke to them on a personal level.  It just so happened that the music reached to a bunch of people in a similar way.  It's still fascinating to me, however it is that music reaches to people and impacts them and changes them and influences them.  I'm curious to know more about how it affects others, to hear from them how they feel when they listen to music.  If you read this and you have felt in some way similar to what I've described, I really would like to hear your thoughts about it.  Till next time.

 

Entry #8 (Eng 102) - I'm Not As Think As You Sick I Am!

I'm staring at you blankly because my brain is drowning in snot...

Or: Sharing is Caring...

At least "Sharing is Caring" is the hubster's excuse for getting me sick!  Not cool, not cool at all.  I am displeased.  *blows nose for 10 minutes*  Ugh.

The vacant stare, mouth slightly open in an effort to continue breathing, watery eyes, slow responses... these are familiar symptoms.  I imagine they're states of being that most of us have become intimately familiar with at one time or another.  Being sick sucks and let's face it, everyone has been sick at one point or another.  I much preferred being sick as a kid.  Why?  You got to stay home from school and vegetate on the couch watching TV all day while being generally pathetic and whiny.  As an adult?  It doesn't quite work that way.  It goes something a little more like...

In all honesty I wish that I could say I didn't do this.  ...but I do.  Not more than 15 minutes ago I was sitting on my couch looking up memes for this post and had a tissue stuffed up my left nostril.  Why?  Because the damn thing is allowing no air movement yet still continues to somehow drip like that leaky faucet in the staff bathroom that no one bothers to fix. 

Movies lie!  They lie!  Evil little liars.  They do it all wrong.  People have colds in a movie and they look like they just got airbrushed by a professional makeup artist.  There's no pathetic-ness, no red, raw nose, no mouth-breathing!  Where is the mouth-breathing?!  LIES!  LIIIIIIIIIES!  I wish I looked half that good when I'm not sick, let alone when I'm constantly sniffling and groaning and sneezing the really loud monster kind of sneezes that scare small animals and children.  Come on, admit it, I'm not the only one like this.  Please tell me I'm not alone in this.  ...please? 

This couldn't be more accurate.  I don't have time for being sick this week.  Why did it have to happen now?  I've got so much stuff to doooooo!  Doesn't it always seem like it happens that way?  You end up getting sick at the "absolute worst time."  It never fails that there's always six billion things that have to be done "right friggin now" but nooooo, now is when your body decided to crap out and get sick.  Now you have to sluggishly slog your way through things while desperately hoping that you don't end up having to re-do everything you've already done because you did it with "sick brain" intelligence. 

Does this work?  I have to practically beg to call off from work and it never fails I end up feeling so guilty about it I wish I'd just gone in anyway.  I mean, so I'm coughing up a lung in coughing fits while sitting completely still and I'd be walking around non-stop and talking to patients and family and staff for 16 hours, so it would be far worse to go in.  Still... Maybe I should try this next time.  I wonder if they'd take that as an acceptable excuse for calling off.  Does anyone else have issues like this or am I just really weird for feeling guilty for being sick and needing to stay home from work? 

Just when you think you're going to have a wonderful, peaceful, amazing moment of breathing through BOTH nostrils.... NOPE!  Just kidding!  Total psych!  And the worst part?  As your sinuses are shifting like crazy, it makes the inside of your skull itch and throb with shifting pressure.  And then the sneezing commences!  Down with the sneezing!  Oh, and the watering eyes as it feels like your sinus cavities are being crawled around on by tiny moving bugs that refuse to stop.  Yuuuuup, it's fun.  Gotta love it.  So what stories might any of you guys have about being sick?  Is it anything like I've described?  Better, worse?  What kind of differences does it seem like there are between being sick as a kid to as an adult?  Let me know in the comments!

 

Entry #7 (Eng 102) - Hashtag Nation

What the crap people...

I really don't get it.  I see hashtags everywhere, it's kind of impossible to miss them at this point.  Yet I still don't quite get it.  I have to say that I do feel a bit more enlightened about their origins and what the original purpose for them is (I never knew they actually serve to categorize posts relating to the topic that's "hashtagged" - that's pretty cool).  Still, what's the deal with all the hashtags?  

I think I'm a bit on the fence in regard to hashtags.  I can see how there are ways that the use of hashtags could be really amazing.  The ALS challenge, calls for various social movements like Black Lives Matter and even the use of them in the wake of disasters or terrorist attacks around the world to show unity and general solidarity can be amazing things.   I think in many ways hashtags can be used to start conversations and to push issues into the spotlight which might otherwise be seen as taboo or shied away from.  Though I do have to wonder, as others have in articles I've read, whether or not these 'armchair' social movement is actually making any real changes.  The "Me Too" hashtag is a pretty powerful one and it has sparked conversation - but for how long?  Will the power behind these hashtag movements have enough steam to actually see real change come from the discussions?  

And then there's the random shit hashtags.  Are these seriously necessary?  Do you really have to hashtag all this random stuff with pictures of your food?  Is it that big of a deal that you need to hashtag how blessed you feel because you saw a pretty sunset?  Are these things necessary to somehow enrich your or other's lives?  What's the point?  Seriously.  Someone please tell me!  I don't get it!  Please tell me I haven't already managed to somehow be over the hill that I'm failing to grasp the absolute importance of hashtagging your morning coffee with something about Monday blues. 

This.  ALL of this.  I've seen it.  I don't even have Twitter and I've still somehow managed to see this happen.  How many hashtags do you really need to have people?  2-3 is plenty.  Stop.  Staaaaap.  Learn some restraint!  Less is more.  A lot less.  Please.  For the sake of our sanity!  This is getting out of hand. 

This needs to be the only form of hashtag that is permissible outside of social movement hashtags.  I do not need to know that you're having "first world problems" nor do I particularly care if you're having "TGIF" or just about anything else  At least if you're going to use a hashtag for random, inane crap, limit yourself to one or two.  If you have more lines of hashtags than you do of actual written words about whatever it is you're talking about you're doing it wrong.  Gah!  I really am just very lost on why this is so popular for random things. 

I use this meme quite sarcastically.  This post needs no hashtags.  Why?  Because they aren't necessary!  Maybe this is the moment I should use one and do a "#firstworldproblems" or something.  It seems like talking about (or complaining over) the needless random use of hashtags is absolutely a first world problem.  Still.  Maybe someone can explain why everything seems to have a hashtag nowadays.  The social movements or unity support after tragedies I can understand, I support that, I get it.  Complaining about your Monday with a hashtag instead of just complaining about your Monday and why it sucks is apparently beyond my comprehension however.  Someone... please... enlighten me?  Explain this?  Somehow?  What am I missing?  Put me out of my misery and leave a comment to help enlighten me on this matter.  Till next time!

 

EC Entry (Eng 102) - A Love Story for the Ages

Capitalism For All!  Or...for some...

So, watching Michael Moore's movie "Capitalism: A Love Story" is kind of a tough pill to swallow.  I personally see a lot of issues with the way that America is run.  The saying "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" seems particularly apt at this point in time.  I have to say that I believe that Michael Moore had a very good point and a good message with his movie.  Although, I think at times the problem faced is that HOW he spreads this information is seen with hesitation. 

In fact, searching for memes with "Michael Moore Memes" turns up an obscene number of very, very negative responses.  I'm sure that a large part of them has to do with people who are so against what he's saying that it doesn't matter he says - they'll disagree with it.  That's what happens when you polarize a group like the American people.  You get both ends of the spectrum.  Moore does a great job of making the story personal.  The "Dead Peasants" aspect of corporations taking insurance policies out on rank and file workers is enough to make anyone with a conscience disgusted.  It's sad, really.  Moore offers a lot of interviews and a lot of facts and supporting research to show that he is on the right track, that he is speaking some truths.  However, he pushes his message with such vehemence that sometimes it seems like his message is lost.  It's not so much what he says but how he says it. 

This, I believe, is what things come down to.  Greed.  Those who are rich want to get richer.  They're giving themselves tax breaks that leaves the burden upon the middle class.  Even today the gap between the incomes of the rich and the middle class is growing even larger.  There are issues with the American economy.  There are issues with the American government and the amount of "corporate interest" in politics.  This is a problem. 

I think Michael Moore is trying his best to spread the message and get it out there, but there's something lost in translation.  The near fanaticism that Moore seems to encourage and engender don't really mesh with the common American.  We can't expect to make a living while trying to protest the way things are going.  The system is, simply put, corrupt.  How do we change it?  How can we hope to change it?  Instead of saying "do something" it might prove more helpful and more productive to start answering those questions.  While it's important to spread this information, to give the knowledge to people and spark people's curiosity and make them look into things for themselves the issue still boils down to "what can we even hope to do?"  Answer that for me.  Show people what can be done that doesn't require us to risk losing our jobs or the ability to provide for our families.  That would be more mobilizing to me, at least.  In short, good message.  It's emotional.  It's full of information.  But it still doesn't help to know what to do to change how things are.  Do any of you know of ways that the average American can do something to encourage change?  For an entire system that reeks of corruption - what can be done to fix it?  Honestly?  I'd really like to know. 

 

Entry #6 (Eng 102) - Who's Stressed?

Say it ain't so...

 Really.  I handle stress like a pro!  I hold it all inside till my eye starts twitching and I think my blood pressure has hit its mark in 'stroke range' and then I just walk outside and take one of my patented "sanity breaks" to not kill or go off on people!  It works great!  ...mostly.  ...sort of... 

Every weekend, I wake up at 4:30 in the morning, drive to pick up my co-worker and drop off my husband who watched her daughter, then we drive to work (and usually run through Starbucks because, well, caffeine).  At about 6:30am, we walk inside the building and clock in, staring down a 16 hour shift.  Essentially, on Saturday morning, I walk into work like the above meme.  I am back.  I'm ready for this.  Let's do this!  By the time I'm leaving work at 10:30pm on Sunday? 

The thing is, this cycle happens -every- weekend.  And every weekend I leave work thinking "there's no way I can keep doing this.  Why do I keep doing this to myself?  I'm too old for this, I hurt too much, I need to find a job closer to home, or one with shorter shifts.. something."  And yet, every Saturday, I repeat the same cycle!  Sure some of it is that I love my 'people' aka - my patients.  I do.  Even when they stress me out so badly I can't see straight, I still love them.  But they still stress me out.  Just about everything except leaving work stresses me out. 

As I said, my breaks at work are my 'sanity' breaks.  I need them.  Literally, I need them.  Those 15 minutes are the moments where I regroup myself and remind myself that no, it is not okay for me to go of on someone.  And no, I can't completely ignore them, no matter how many times they repeatedly scream my name until I ask them what they need and it's something like "I don't know."  Seriously?  You just sat there saying "Elka, Elka, Elka" (don't ask me why, that's one of my patient's names for me.  No idea where it came from) and when I ask her what she needs, she stares blankly at me and says "I don't know."  And that's about the point in my head that I imagine myself repeatedly beating my head on the wall.  That's why I take my 'sanity breaks'.  They're a necessary part of survival! 

<.<  Ok, so this might be more my speed.  Sometimes I really think that I handle things great.  I organize myself, I stick to a routine, I have a clue what I'm doing.  And then, it never fails, something happens and I feel like that guy.  A lot of things go through my head on the weekends at work.  I just end up staring at things and feel my brain chugging trying to figure out a response that isn't profanity-laden.  Usually, I manage to sort something out, but the profanity-laden speech is still rolling around like marbles inside my head. 

Every weekend, I try so hard to start my day with a positive outlook.  I really do.  I start my day with the best of intentions!  And then life and reality set in and I realize it's more of the same.  Or not the same but still strange and interesting ways to stress me right the hell out.  Sometimes, I seriously wonder if some kind of cosmic force is out there, watching my weekends like some people watch afternoon soap operas and laughing their cosmic asses off at me.  When it comes down to it though, by the time I leave on Sunday night, I essentially feel like this:

Every weekend, I leave thinking "Oh my God I'm going to drink a whole bottle of wine by myself, I'm so done with this weekend!"  Admittedly, by the time I get home (between 11:30 to midnight), I'm just happy if I can manage to eat dinner without falling asleep mid-bite.  Still, as stressful as it is, I keep going back.  Why?  Because I love being a nurse.  It's exhausting and stressful beyond belief, but I still love it.  And I'm lucky that I have some pretty awesome co-workers that make the day a lot more tolerable.  This being Friday night, I'm finishing up this post staring down the fact I'm going into another weekend.  I know, again, I'll start with the same hopeful outlook when I walk into work tomorrow morning.  And I also know that by the time I leave on Sunday night, I'll be practically running for my car thinking "Oh thank god the weekend is over!"  Am I the only one who feels this way though?  We all have stresses in our lives - personal, school, work - surely I'm not the only one who deals with this kind of stress and has these kinds of thoughts.  Man I hope I'm not the only one!  Leave some comments and give me your feedback, let me know about your own stressful situations and how you guys deal with them.  Maybe I can learn some new ways to deal with stress!

 

Entry #5 (Eng 102) - Pomp and Circumstance

The Pomp and Circumstance of It All...

I'm familiar with the music for "pomp and circumstance."  It's familiar music that most people would are aware of.  I actually had to look up the meaning though as while I knew what pomp meant, this use of the word circumstance was a little unfamiliar to me.  Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines pomp as: "a ceremonial or festival display (such as a train of followers or a pageant)" and circumstance as: "attendant formalities and ritualistic display especially as contrasted with essential procedure."  Hearing the music swell as you walk down the isles to take your place in the seats designated for graduates is a moment of pride for many.  A question for a lot of people, however, is whether or not they'll ever experience that moment.  

I'm writing about this topic because I read this article  written by Arizona governor Doug Ducey.  I thought, personally, that Governor Ducey did a very good job in his article.  It's one of the first times that I've seen anyone in politics write something with such a personal bent to it.  Yes I'm sure that there are aspects to it that were meant to push a political agenda, but in this case it's a really good agenda.  

Personally, I do agree with what Governor Ducey stated.  It would be wonderful to have more people with college level educations or at least ASDs or technical school certificates.  It's needed.  There are a lot of jobs and career paths that require it or will be moving to a point in the future that they require it.  However, for as wonderful as the initiative that he is suggesting here, I do see some severe problems with it.

Now, I realize that Governor Ducey addressed this, to a degree.  Particularly, he addressed it in regards to low income families, saying:

While there is certainly no shortage of desire in these students to be successful, low-income families face added challenges to educational attainment that we can identify and target with our efforts and resources in order to assist those who need help the most.

That's wonderful!  I'm not saying that sarcastically either, it truly is wonderful and I would love to see this happen.  But low-income families aren't the only ones who have issues affording tuition and the various costs that go along with higher education.  When I left high school, despite my parents best efforts and taking me around to see different campuses, I didn't have any desire to go straight into college.  I had a vague idea of what I wanted to study (which ended up changing to a completely different career path - I was going to study journalism and now I'm a nurse.  Night and day difference there.)  However, I was also very aware of the cost of higher education.  I knew that my parents were willing to do whatever it took to help me get a college education but I knew how difficult that would also be for them.  

Another problem I see with this kind of a push: 

which ties in to:

Teachers work a lot more than just weekends.  My mother is a retired teacher after 20+ years in the public school system.  Believe me, I've been horrified and angered on her behalf hearing some of the issues she's gone through.  From funding (which Governor Ducey addressed there was funding being added to the budget - wonderful!) to the shift to more and more standardized testing (that gives no benefit from the children aside from seeing how well they take a test) to the changes that have been made to the content of education (see: Common Core - it doesn't work.)

This kind of a push - to see 60% of Arizonians with higher level education - is wonderful.  It truly is.  But it goes a lot deeper than this.  Governor Ducey's article was a message filled with hope, a call for all "elected leaders, business leaders, parents, grandparents and neighbors" to have a hand in improving education attainment.  I appreciated that, I did.  It made me hopeful, it was a very positive message.  I think it might just be a little misplaced however.  There wasn't any discussion on the quality of education that students are receiving in high school - or down in middle school either.  There was no discussion on how the education system needs reform.  That's a discussion I'd really like to see.  Well, no, I don't want to see a discussion.  I want to see an initiative like this one put toward education reform.

I feel as though, while Governor Ducey's message was well thought out and definitely promising, that in a way it's hitting the mark.  If we want to see more people achieve higher level education then we need to step back.  We need to look not at those who are at the gap between graduating high school and college but further back still.  First, students have to make it to graduation.  They have to feel capable of taking on higher education.  They have to be prepared well before their final four years of school but back in middle school.  That is where the hunger and thirst for knowledge begins.  If we don't make changes there then, as well-meaning as Governor Ducey's initiative is, I don't think it's going to reach the numbers he's hoping for.  It is, however, a good start. 

Entry #4 (Eng 102) - It's Okay To Not Be What Everyone Wants

Not everyone is for you...

How stunning a thought is this?  It's okay to not be liked by everyone.  It's okay if there are some people who, no matter how hard you try, just don't like you.  Stop tearing yourself up over it.  Stop trying to force yourself into a mold to fit another person's view of how you should be.  Not everyone is for you.  You are not for everyone. 

I actually found the above image years ago and reposted it on Facebook for a friend of mine who was having a hard time and feeling alone.  It popped back up on my "this day x years ago, you posted [blah]" feed and I re-read it and found myself curious.  So, I went to find the book it was from.  Rebecca Campbell's book Light is the New Black was the source.  And I have to admit, when I read about what the full book was about, I immediately sort of cringed back from it.  Talking about "lightbringers" and calling everyone "sister" and lots of talk about spiritualism and the sort really just... isn't for me.  The more I thought about it, however, the more I considered whether or not I was unfairly judging something without actually giving it a chance.  So, I sucked up my initial reticence and I bought the book for my kindle.  And I've slowly been reading it (not a lot since I have a lot of assignments for school I need to get done) but I have to say that, if I look past some of the terminology, the message is actually kind of amazing.

 The book, of what I have read thus far, speaks a lot towards how the writer focused on trying to make a life for herself based on entirely external factors.  Internally, she wanted to do more, she wanted to do something different.  However, she constantly felt as though she 'had' to do the external things to be at a place where she could then attempt the internal.  After losing two very close friends, the end of an 11-year relationship and discovering that after achieving the dream job she thought she wanted - she was miserable.  It wasn't until she began making changes towards what was important to her internally, to her personally, that she began to find a sense that she was happier, she was more at peace and felt like she'd found her place in the world. 

Granted, there are parts of her story that I read and thought "and I'd never do that, nope not that either.  Hell no I wouldn't do that, that's totally impractical!"  Though, again, when I look beyond the superficial and try to understand what drove Campbell to make the changes that she did, I think there's more to it than the grand, sweeping, life-altering changes that she did.  That, also, is not for everyone. 

This is something I struggle with.  Over the past few years I've had to come to a point when I learned that saying "no" was not only okay - sometimes it was necessary.  I found myself being taken advantage of by people - both in my personal and professional life.  I stretched myself too thin, I agreed to help too much.  I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do but the more and more that I gave, the more and more exhausted (physically, mentally, emotionally) I became.  Sometimes I'm sure I come off like a real bitch when someone asks me to do something and I say "No, sorry, I can't" but it's self-preservation. 

I have physically hurt myself by doing things that I should have asked for help myself but I didn't because "it just needed to get done."  That really isn't always a healthy mindset.  There has to be a middle ground.  There's a give and take to saying 'yes' or saying 'no' I've found and it's really difficult sometimes to find (and stick to) that middle ground.  Sometimes I feel unbearably guilty for saying 'no' but it's something that I've learned I have to do for my own sanity.  I help where I can, when I can, when it isn't something that is going to end up affecting me poorly. 

In my experiences thus far in life, I have to say that the above meme really does have some truth to it.  A lot of truth to it.  It's a little backwards sometimes but the breakdown to it makes a lot of sense to me.  People who are loneliest understand how much it means to receive kindness, so they give it often.  People who are saddest, or just sad in general, smile so brightly when they have simple things bring them that happiness because they experience it so little.  And people who have been damaged - people who have gone through horrible experiences of varying kinds - often are the ones who have been forced to look at life in different ways and realize the wisdom of some things in life.  As a result, they often tend to be the ones who share that wisdom.  Not to laud themselves and what they've been through but to try and help save others from going through the same thing, or lift them up when they see someone struggling and they understand the feeling themselves. 

Sometimes, the best thing you can do is to ask questions.  Ask them of yourself primarily.  Ask yourself if what you're doing is helpful or, more appropriately, if it is hurtful to yourself.  This doesn't mean that someone is being selfish, it means that they're looking out for themselves.  We can give of ourselves only so much before it becomes too much.  Then, when there's nothing left to give, who will still be there?  Are the people that we surround ourselves with going to still be there when we have nothing left to give to them?  And if the answer is no or "I'm not sure" then maybe we need to take a closer look at the kind of people we're surrounding ourselves with. 

Surprisingly, looking past the 'fluffy fru-fru' way that Campbell's book is thus far presented, the deeper meaning is there.  Love yourself first - it's okay.  Follow your own dreams - it's okay to do that too.  Find your own inner voice and listen to it.  It might just be what steers you in the best direction.  Sometimes, it's okay to put yourself first.

Entry #3 (Eng 102) - Right to Incite

The Riot Act... sort of

Sometimes, it really can feel like the riot act is being read to you, proverbially speaking of course.  This can come from all sorts of directions, from your parents, from your boss or supervisor, even from your friends sometimes.  Where you might not want it to come from?  From your news source.  Personally, I'm not really the sort that responds well to having people get up in arms about something, particularly when it feels as though I'm being yelled at, scolded, or generally spoken to like I'm an idiot.  That's really just not a proper way to make your point, to me.  

Of course, if your entire purpose is to draw upon the emotional response of your audience, to skirt the line of ethics in reporting by claiming you aren't a journalist so you can say whatever you want, then of course, perhaps this tactic works perfectly for you.  And so, I give you exhibit A:

Alright.   So.  There's a few things to address here.  First, this is a dangerous aspect of bias and slanted reporting in the news.  Now, some might ask how?  How can it be 'slanted reporting in the news?  She isn't a journalist, she's a 'commentator' and she says so openly!'  Well.  Yes.  Yes she does.  Tomi (pronounced like Tommy) Lahren doesn't claim to be a journalist.  In fact, in an interview she had with Mike Wendling from BBC News in Dallas just last fall, she's made her position exceptionally clear.  As she stated for the article:

 "I never wanted to be neutral," she says. "I never wanted to report on the news, I wanted to comment on the news, I wanted to make the news."

Here's the thing.  She has every right to have that stance.  She has every right to have that desire and to pursue it and to engage in it once she's reached that point.  But...Yes, there's that ubiquitous 'but' that always seems to make its way in where it isn't wanted.  So, as I started, the 'but' here is that while she is commenting on the news and she is billed as a 'commentator' she has been hired by and is working for Fox News.  Last time I checked, Fox News, for all its flaws, is still a news site.  When they bring on a 'commentator' who makes such horrifically inflammatory statements it serves little purpose but to lower their credibility to thinking, logical viewers.  Then, that seems to be the key part - the viewers.  Tomi Lahren doesn't really look for credibility among a broader audience, she seeks a specific audience and utilizes emotional appeals through incendiary statements, specific wording and repeated phrases to highlight (incorrectly most of the time) an issue, and rhetorical questioning to 'stick it to' whoever her target of the hour is.  

For instance, she insists that team owners have every right to enforce rules (they do) and that standing for the anthem should be one of them.  There's just one problem.  This situation has, in a way, already been addressed.  West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette.   Just to cover some excerpts as they pertain to this whole 'controversy' about taking a knee during the anthem: 

"Symbolism is a primitive but effective way of communicating ideas. The use of an emblem or flag to symbolize some system, idea, institution, or personality is a short-cut from mind to mind. Causes and nations, political parties, lodges, and ecclesiastical groups seek to knit the loyalty of their followings to a flag or banner, a color or design. The State announces rank, function, and authority through crowns and maces, uniforms and black robes; the church speaks through the Cross, the Crucifix, the altar and shrine, and clerical raiment. Symbols of State often convey political ideas, just as religious symbols come to convey theological ones. Associated with many of these symbols are appropriate gestures of acceptance or respect: a salute, a bowed or bared head, a bended knee." 

The emphasis is my own.  The above quote was from Justice Robert Jackson within the ruling on the above linked court case.  Yes, this case was from 1943, but it's still law and it's still on the books and ... it still applies.  And here, aside from the fact that it was mandated that it is illegal and unconstitutional to force, under penalty of reprisal, a person to participate in a patriotic demonstration.

Anyway, I could get into breaking down the points that she is attempting to make, but that's not exactly the purpose here.  Also, someone else already did it for me.  A few times:

Honestly, I think the counter-videos really cover things fairly well on the argument of the points she's trying to make.  That said, BOTH Tomi Lahren's videos and Hasan Piker's videos show slant.  However, Piker's video does this much, much less so, as he's actually willing to show an understanding of counterarguments and present rebuttals against  potential reactions.  He openly invites dialogue and discussion of these topics instead of ranting, as the BBC article stated: "she talks more than 50% faster than the average English speaker - directly into the camera."

This really is off-putting.  It comes off like an attack or a rally cry.  Either way you take it however, it's not helpful.  These are statements being made to encourage discourse, they aren't being put out there to encourage people to actually come together and have intellectual discussions of differing opinions.  These are rapid-fire statements and calls to action and encouragement of silencing dissenting opinions from their own.  Sure, she claims to completely support free speech.  Just, as long as what you're saying doesn't disagree with what she thinks.  Then you need to just shut up.  I'm not sure if I'm more angry listening to her videos because of what she's saying or because this otherwise seemingly intelligent young woman is making herself more and more of an outright fool the longer her lips move.  I'd expect better.  I hope for better.  As of now, I'm continuing to be disappointed.

This time, my dear readers, casual skimmers, accidental clickers, I am afraid you are not going to be subjected to my heavy use of memes.  Nor, this time, am I going to give you a goodbye meme.  You see, I'd like to see a response to this, I'd like to see comments, thoughts and opinions.  Let me know what you think and let's discuss the matter more.  So, to those ends, I'm forgoing the goodbye meme because I don't want this to end the conversation - I want to start it.  So come on and share some thoughts with me.  I'm looking forward to it.  :)