aballard2016-blog

[aballard2016-blog]

Courtesy, Professionalism, and Respect

Growing up we often hear others say, “what is this world coming to?” This is a question I often ask myself. Yet I also have to ask myself, is the change in our society and generations, or is it the evolving speed of technology and the lack of time it takes for the media to focus on an event? One example of recent events that have had many asking themselves this question includes the rising tension between the police officers and communities.   Is this due to the changing mindset of younger generations or the way the media portrays police officers? Are police officers able to do their jobs without having to worrying about the possibility of losing their career or having condescending statements made about them by the press? In the past few years, there have been several instances in which the press has questioned the integrity of  many police officers such as Ferguson, Charlotte, and Milwaukee, where riots started after what they called “un-just” shootings. Could these incidents have been avoided or had different outcomes if the press had not been so involved? Has the way our society become played a role in all of these riotings and do the younger generations still value the morals that were instilled in the generations above such as respect, professionalism, and common courtesies?

The tension between the police officers and communities are rising to new heights, most likely due to the changing mindsets of younger generations as well as the media. These incidents could have been avoided if they would have respected the police officers doing their job by cooperating and not resisting arrest. This is why if everyone, not just the police officers, followed the policy of courtesy, professionalism, and respect set by the chief of police officers in Outcasts United, Tony Scipio, the tensions between police officers and civilians would drastically decrease, which would also lower the amount of altercations involving use of force.

One rule that was taught to us back as early as kindergarten is to, “Treat others how you want to be treated,” goes a long way in life. Yes, it even applies to when you encounter police officers. Studies show that your demeanor often affects how the police officers will handle the situation. So, if you treat the officer respectfully, the chances that the officer will treat you respectfully increases. Brunson and Weitzer state, “Police clearly expect citizens to respect their authority. People who show deference to police officers and treat them respectfully are more likely to receive similar treatment from police officers, whereas individuals who act disrespectfully or aggressively are much more likely to be treated harshly (e.g., arrested) than those who remain visibly calm, courteous, and deferential.” (Brunson and Weitzer.) They continue and explain what I said previously, and even explain what is likely to happen if one antagonizes the police officer.

Something to remember if you are having problems being courteous to police officers is that they aren’t just pulling you over and giving you tickets for the fun of it; it’s their job to enforce the law and to be able to maintain order, therefore; they cannot just let everything “slide by” because it was not a major violation. If they did let the smaller infringements go by unpunished, then what is to say that people would not try to push the limits and start engaging in more severe crime? The next time you get pulled over for going a few miles over the speed limit, or parking in a no park zone, don’t be angry at the police officers for doing their job. If you are going to be angry at anyone, be so at yourself.

Another thing that everyone needs to be aware of is that the job has many health-related problems as well as the physical danger they subject themselves to. The job itself is immensely stressful, and this increase in stress can result in health problems like sleep disorders, cancers and diseases, and an increased risk of committing suicide.

Perhaps the most troubling report comes from the National Center of Biotechnology Information which shows that between seven and 19 percent of active-duty officers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. To put that into perspective, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs shows the veterans of the two Iraq Wars had a PTSD rate of 13.8 percent.” (Turman.)

This quote further explains the health risks that can develop by working in the field as a cop, and shows that not only are they likely to get post traumatic stress disorder, but even more so than veterans of the Iraq Wars. Although it is hard to know unless personally being involved, this could possibly be because of the many disturbing crime scenes they view and perhaps even near death experiences they are subjected too.

A common argument that people might bring up is that it is the police officer’s job to treat you with respect. However, that is wrong. Their job is to ensure peace and public safety of citizens by enforcing laws set by the government. How they go about achieving that is ultimately up to them, but is heavily influenced by how you act. If you are respectful and cooperate with the  police officer, they are more likely to treat you with courteous and respectful manners than if you were to insult and resist them. It may be your right to be rude and uncooperative with them, but that will most likely lead to altercations and generally will set the tone of that encounter and future ones as well. By being respectful of the police officers, it will make the scene a lot smoother, sometimes even resulting with them letting you off with a warning depending on what you were charged with.

This is not to say I think police officers should be able to get away with crimes if they violate policies, but I do think that it should be handled professionally at the time. Make sure to get the officer's name and what time the encounter happened and then go report it to the station afterwards. But while the altercation is happening, comply with the officer to ease the tension, so that they are less likely to result to negative measures. By doing this, the chance of the police  officers using force or arresting you for aggressive behavior are likely to drop. “The norm of signaling respect to a police officer is often coupled with concrete advice regarding proper demeanor, namely, to act in a deferential, obedient, and compliant manner, even if provoked. Safety is the overriding goal—that is, to protect youth from getting involved in altercations, from being arrested, or from violence at the hands of officers.” (Brunson and Weitzer.) As the quote says, holding a respectful and professional demeanor to the officer is to help ensure your safety in an encounter. Even though the officer may be in the wrong, to be able to do anything about it in the long term, it would be of interest to be able to say you were compliant the entire time.  Remember that in today’s society, police officers not only have to protect the lives of the citizen’s they have sworn to protect, but they also have to fear for their own life and safety. Therefore, due to their heightened risk, it is even more important to cooperate and show respect which will allow the police officers to do their job in a calm manner and ensure the best outcome for both parties.

[aballard2016-blog]

podcast progress

My team has started to layout the script for our podcast but we still need to find a transcript to incorporate into it. we also still need to find audio clips and make an intro and exit sound.

[aballard2016-blog]

Podcast idea

an idea i have for the podcast would be to ask, or email professors on campus and see if they use trigger warnings and reasons why the do or don’t use them. doing this would provide insight to a professors point of of view about them and would be relevant since it is professors actually on our campus.

[aballard2016-blog]

Serial vs Radiolab

The podcasts the class was told to compare were “Serial” and “Patient One Radiolab.” The first podcast, “Serial” was about the murder of a high school girl and the potential suspect, who was found guilty and convicted accordingly. The second podcast, “Patient One Radiolab” was a podcast that covered multiples stories about the origin of diseases. (What was covered in this specific podcast was typhoid, AIDS, and ebola.)

To begin my comparison and contrast of these podcast, I would like to point out a difference that was somewhat subtle, which was the usage of music. In “Serial” music was used quite often as transitions or inserted into areas where she paused to let the situation set in. However, from what I noticed “Patient One Radiolab” didn’t use as much music, partially because they didn’t need to, having three stories to cover as well as multiple speakers it wasn’t as necessary to use music extensively. I also noted that Radiolab’s podcast wasn’t as “Professional” as Serial’s podcast was. You could tell this by the fact that Radiolab’s podcast had a lot more of an informal tone to it, while Serial’s podcast had a more formal tone.

Both podcasts used pauses to let the readers mind catch up occasionally. They both had occasional humorous moments.

I preferred the Radiolab’s podcast to serial, mostly because it was way more lighthearted than “Serial” was. I also liked Radiolab’s podcast more because it covered more stories that were not as serious as Serial’s podcast was. This is mostly influenced by the humor because I like comedy and less serious settings. I am not saying that Serial is not as a good podcast, it is just not what I prefer to listen to, as in this case, it was a topic that needs to be taken in a rather serious manner.

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[aballard2016-blog]

Blog Post over Serial Podcast

The podcast is over the conviction of Adnan Syed on the charge of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Haymen Lee in January 1999. The gist of the case revolved around the problem that Adnan didn’t have an alibi for the time Haymen was reported to be killed. Except for a supposable witness that may have seen him at the library. It was this crucial evidence that could have proved Adnan’s innocence of the crime. But since that evidence never made it to court, Adnan didn’t even have a winnable case to start with.

The podcast uses a light, feathery, electrical music as a background noise to keep the audience from getting bored by the steady tone of Koenig’s voice. Her voice is smooth which makes it easier on the listener to follow along. She uses changes in her pitch to keep the readers interest, which makes it easier to know when she got excited in the podcast. Furthermore, she uses a calm, simplistic language so that she is able to be understood by everyone. She also uses a fair bit of meta-commentary telling the readers that there is times where she not sure herself if Adnan is innocent or guilty. She also keeps the listener actively involved by providing scenarios for the audience to think for themselves. By doing so the reader isn’t just sitting idly by listening to her, they are actually involved throughout the podcast, Koenig even gives the audience a specific query about how well you might remember something that happened a week ago, including the very small details.

She outlined her audio file following the chronological order of the events. By doing so she is able to grab and maintain a hold of the listener’s attention. By placing events in this order it makes the listeners wonder “Well what happens next?” This keeps the listeners from getting bored and turning off the podcast

[aballard2016-blog]

6th post

Kate Manne, an assistant professor of philosophy at Cornell University, holds a somewhat unique stance over the use of trigger warnings in college academia. Believing that Trigger warnings are something used voluntarily by professors, however she does not think that they should be mandatory. In her article Why I Use Trigger Warnings, Manne structures her arguments towards the latter half of her paper, calling to attention that there are different types of responses, those based on reason or those that are involuntary caused. Manne then goes on to explain how this applies to a student’s ability to learn, “A common symptom of PTSD is panic attacks. Those undergoing these attacks may be flooded with anxiety to the point of struggling to draw breath, and feeling disoriented, dizzy and nauseated. Under conditions such as these, it’s impossible to think straight.” By doing this Manne shows why trigger warnings can be significant and who they affect.

[aballard2016-blog]

Fourth Blog Assignment

My avatar image is a picture of me after winning a wrestling match. I chose to make it my avatar because wrestling was a passion of mine which helped define who i am as a person. Another reason i chose it was because i wasn’t able to wrestle my senior year in high school due to an injury, which has made me miss wrestling even more. My background image is of an Imperial Star Destroyer looming over Naboo. I chose this because it represents my all-time favorite movie Star Wars, which i have watched innumerous times over the course of my childhood. I made my background color black because it is my favorite color. While i made my accent color a bright neon green because its my second favorite color. Furthermore, the black background makes the green accent show out a better. The theme I chose puts my avatar out of the way and focuses on my background picture. This theme represents me well because of my introverted nature. This puts me aside so that i’m not directly immediately noticed by viewers. My user name aballard2016, is a combination of my first names initial, my last name, and the year i graduated high school.

[aballard2016-blog]

#Triggered

The writings i have found that cover “trigger warnings” that pertain to college campuses both seem to show more downsides than benefits for having them. One of the very few benefits i have found for having trigger warnings included in syllabi is that it protects certain individuals who have PTSD from possibly having flashbacks of the traumatic experience or experiences they might of had. 

The downsides of having “trigger warnings” in college include hindering education,  impeding the exercise of free speech, prevention of recover, and possibly exacerbating their suffering (from the traumatic experiences.) A lot of people view college as a place to further their education. When trigger warnings are given, then people may not want to read it, or downright refuse to read it, which inevitably will obstruct education. Further more the introduction of trigger warnings can deter others rights to practice freedom of speech. Finally, Trigger warnings can prevent and maybe recess the recovery by inadvertently promoting “self-infantilization” 

edit: My sources are “Stress Test” and “Left Behid”.

[aballard2016-blog]

Whats Up With Shitty Drafts?

You would think that most successful writers are able to make the perfect first draft every time they sit down to write. Well that assumption is both incorrect and correct at the same time. Anne Lamott stated that all good writers write terrible first drafts, which in return leads to having better second and third drafts. The idea behind this is that when you let your “childlike” part of your mind control your writing it gets the basic ideas and thoughts onto the paper  that is typically longer than what you need and will often have small parts that are amazing material for the writing. Then you go and remove the not so good parts of the draft and condense it down. This idea combined with the small pieces of exceptional writing, is why i believe that your “shitty draft” isn’t all that shitty at all, and is actually a “perfect” draft to start with.

[aballard2016-blog]

Writing Biography

I’ve always been good at reading and was reading at high school level when i was in fourth grade, and continued to improve from there. However i have not read for entertainment for a long time. I am very comfortable with reading, while speaking and writing is something id rather avoid doing all together. I enjoy reading fiction books with a lot of action in it, especially mythology (mostly Greek). I hope to develop my writing skills by the time this class is over.