Progress to Some, a Hurdle for Others

While on surfing the Internet community on Facebook, I got a little sidetracked and came upon a link titled something along the lines of 'anti-pro-ana' to a group that attempted to spread the word about eating disorder groups. I searched for news stories and found one on newsweek that detailed about how these and groups of the other side are actually very numerous. Many have touted Facebook and other social networking sites as places where people can find others with similar interests as them, as well as keep in touch and keep up with friends. And with the sites growing at incredibly fast rates, there are more chances for people to find similar interest groups. Its usually said that this growing community of people and shared idea is a good thing. But, as we usually do in American Studies, we should put a question mark after saying that this is progress, and my discovery on Facebook today prompted that. With the Facebook population growing, people have created support groups for people with eating disorders. This isnt a support group to help teens get out of their disorder, but one that encourages girls to go on extreme diets to lose extreme amounts of weight. some even have places where members can post pictures of themselves and other users can comment on "problem areas". Like one former member said "I was encouraged to stop eating when I saw how many people were doing it". While the progress in many areas because of these sites is undeniable, there are other topics where these websites have caused damage, this being one of them. But to go even further and put a question on our question mark, there are some good sides to the groups that can be called progress. Marcia Herrin, a Dartmouth professor, is glad to see that teens are comfortable talking about eating disorders and arent as afraid to share and admit that they have a disorder. So while these networking sites are a progress in social communities and the spreading of ideas there always must be a question mark, because things dont always seem as they are. Then again though, you should look for yet another question mark; one that reveals a silver lining to a situation. When it comes to these groups, people have to decide if the progress the group presents is greater than the harm it causes, because every situation of progress has a question mark and a drawback.

By the way, I checked for the group again today but it turns out facebook deletes the groups when the find them because they violate the terms of agreement by "promoting self harm or Harm to others".

Undeniable Progress

It would be very difficult for a person to claim we are not progressing as a nation after such an historic election. This cartoon shows just how monumental the election of Barack Obama really is. For forty three presidents and over 200 years, the appearance of the man in charge of this nation has not changed much at all; all white males, maybe a little older, and with some white hairs. But now that image has undeniably changed dramatically. The election of an African American to the highest office in the land was unthinkable even 30 years ago. That has all changed now, and Americans have proven that we can see past a person's skin color. But to add a question mark to progress in this sense, is it really as monumental of progress as people say? sure it is, but President-elect Obama is one man and just one case in the fight against racism. Racism will still exist in America for a long time. So although the election is definitely a monumental step in American politics and social life, it cannot be said that this Progress has lifted America above racism, although it is a huge step towards it.

A Slap to the idea of an Idealist Future

In Election Expectations, Wray Herbert takes to a pragmatic way of journalism that has been such a rarity this election season that attempts to lower the bar of expectations of our new president elect. For the past year or so, journalists and media have been preaching of a new, idealistic future, whoever the winner may be. Now that this grueling election has concluded with a sudden and for some unexpected one day finale, people have started to look towards the future. Many Americans feel optimistic about the future and have not put the possibility of an idealistic future out of the picture, nor have they considered the possibility of just an average next four years. Herbert attempts to explain why people do not plan for future disappointment in a series of fancy and sometimes unclear scientific facts. One could even go so far as to say Herbert is being a pessimistic fool. But what he is really trying to do is lay some cushions down so that if people are disappointed, they will land with a little less pain. Through Scientific terms and explanations, Herbert attempts to prove that humans are bound to be unprepared for disappointment and failure. In many ways he succeeds, but I think his main reason for writing the article is to just put a warning out there for the thousands of new idealistic Americans. I applaud his efforts to plan for failure, because without people like him we would fall hard and struggle to get back up on our feet after our idealistic goals fail.

"Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono" - Revising an Island's Constitution

Should Hawaii Re-write it's constitution? Again?

As election day approaches, few people are focused on what else is on the ballot besides the two major presidential nominees.  In three states (Illinois, Connecticut, and Hawaii) there is a box to vote for a Constitutional Convention. The conventions, if they are held, may go unnoticed in Illinois and Connecticut, but Hawaii is a different story. As we have talked in class about how state constitution's play a larger role in daily life than the US constitution I began to try and think of examples of when the Illinois constitution made my life different than someone living in Wisconsin or Indiana. I failed to think of an example and my notion that the Illinois Constitution made little difference in my life continued. Overall, the 48state's Constitutions do not vary greatly from each other and seem to be trivial things that are left to be argued about in Springfield or some place of equal importance. When I read an article detailing the effects of Hawaii's constitution, I was surprised to learn that hawaians may see the effects of their constitution on their live's daily. Hawaii has changed its constitution twice since statehood, and thats a lot considering it is a young 49 years old. Each of these revisions  have had far reaching effects on the island chain's small population (just above 1 million). The last convention, or ConCon as the locals call it, added 1,000 changes, and included the hawaiian saying in this title in the preamble, for example. The changes also made Hawaiian an official language, granted natives equality, and dramatically changed Hawaiian society "many of the changes to the constitution crystalized the renaissance in Hawaiian culture that included the resurgence of hula dancing, navigating ocean canoes, and brought back the traditional Hawaiian culture" With the uniqueness of the constitution, comes the noticeable actions of state government. Perhaps because the state has such a unique culture, or that it is free of state borders is their constitution and local government such a big deal for Hawaiians. Whatever the reason, I consider Hawaiian locals lucky to be able to notice the efforts, successes, and even failures of their state government in daily life. Maybe if I lived in Hawaii I would give a little thought about what goes on behind closed doors in Honolulu. Hawaii could be viewed in a way as an example of how things would have turned out if the Articles of Confederation actually worked and persisted to this day. So this Tuesday Hawaiians will vote on something that may affect their lives as equally as the new president. As for me, I will go on living my life paying close attention to the federal government and who will be our next president and meanwhile giving little thought to what goes on in a little city called Springfield.