Assignment #9:

Views on gender differences:

I think that the “differences” and speculations people see on opposite genders is inaccurate. Saying that women are unequal to men or that men dont know what it is too be a women is completely wrong. of course there are aspects of each other that we dont know i think that strength wise women can pull the same weight as men if they apply the effort. Men can be as sympathetic and caring as women can be. I think that job requirements should not be “oh your a women, you cant do this.” or “your a man you cant do this cause its a womens place.” i think everyone should have their equal chance to prove themselves worthy.

Assignment #8;

Highway of tears: as for the reason that these cases dont seem to be getting as much media attention as other cases would be the fact that most of the girls were of aboriginal ethnicity. Citizens in Canada are not given equal treatment based on their race. If the majority of these women were caucasian the case would be placed in top priority. I dont think its fair that the victims and families of these terrible cases have not yet seen justice maybe for the fact that they are not “white” and (not trying to be rude/mean) but are not seen as important and aren’t #1 priority.

List of women on ‘Highway of Tears’ doubles

Updated Fri. Oct. 12 2007 10:18 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The RCMP on Thursday doubled the list of women who have gone missing on a notorious British Columbia road known as the “Highway of Tears.”

Until now police believed nine young women died or went missing along Highway 16, a road which stretches from Prince Rupert to Prince George.

But police now believe the number is actually 18.

The first name on the list is Gloria Moody. Moody was killed in Williams Lake in 1969. Over the next four decades, police say there have been 17 other victims on the highway.

The crimes have left residents who travel and live in towns along the highway fearing for their safety.

One resident told CTV News in Vancouver that “It’s very frightening that a predator could be out there for that length of time preying on these women without anyone standing in the way.”

There has long been fear and suspicion that a serial killer is behind the murders and missing women.

RCMP Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre doesn’t believe one person killed all of these women. But he said police are open to “any, any possibility.”

All of the victims were young and many of them were Aboriginal. Some were hitchhiking along the highway. Travellers along the highway say they’re afraid to pick up any hitchhikers, no matter how young. They say they’re torn between wanting to keep hitchhikers safe and their own safety because they don’t know who may be wanting a ride.

The investigation has long been criticized. Protests have been held accusing police of not doing enough, and aboriginal groups have complained more young women have gone missing on Highway 16 then investigators were admitting.

Police say they weren’t pressured to change the list because of criticism from the community. They note that the new names were added after more than 200 files were reviewed.

Police will not reveal if they have any suspects. They have said they are not releasing all of the information that they have.

“There are things we know that we don’t want the the persons or person responsible to know. I can tell you we know a lot more than we did a year ago,” said Lemaitre.

But 38 years after Moody’s body was found they have made no arrest.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071012/highway_oftears_071012/20071012/

lately there has been relatively the same amount of media coverage on the case and the police believe they have a stronger lead. In the article above it states that 38 years have gone past and still no arrests. Most cases go only a few years until justice is served. I think that people should look deeper into the cases and work harder on finding the individual that committed these offences.

Assignment #7:

             Homeless people in vancouver are evident. We all know they are there and we all know they are struggling to survive below the poverty line. Homelessness doesnt target one specific ethnicity but every ethnic group in vancouver  as Vancouver is a multicultural city. People of any age and any gender can be homeless and struggle to survive through hunger pains and living without a warm home/shelter to go too. These people are homeless usually due to addiction of drugs and lack of successful jobs to support themselves. Not many people are willing to put the money and effort out there to help these people and this is where they are at a stand still of gaining momentum to being above poverty.

Assignment #6;

There is a great importance behind fighting for children’s rights. Multiple children are being used for labor and are not aware of the rights that they have and that they can use them to fight against the conditions they are being forced to work in. Children are unaware of there rights in many countries and need people to work together to fight for these children so that the populations of these countries dont suffer and so that the children can lead successful and fulfilling lives.

Oh wow;

ill just get straight to the point. ok so on facebook i joined this group called ” gay is not a synonym for stupid” and literally two seconds later someone pops up on my chat and goes DISAPPOINTING. i didnt quiet get it and then they were like you joined that group about gays? why would you do that. then they continued to tell me how they thought it was ok to use the word gay in the context of something being stupid as long as its not used in an agressive tone.

It just hit me at the moment how oblivious some people are  how some words they think are so simple and ok to use in any way they please can be so hurtful to people. I was actually shocked and someone so close to home. A student at our own school had the nerver to tell me it was ok to hurt gays just for the satisfaction of having a word to use other than stupid. I then proceeded to tell him well if its ok to say “thats gay” then its ok to say “thats so hetero” in a sense that its something bad. And his response was “it doesnt roll of the tongue as easy.” Im completely shocked by this.

Assignment #5

              Looking through the different articles about human rights violations around the world i have come to a conclusion. In many countries around the world including Iraq and Mexico women are still being treated unfairly and seen as an object of society not as individuals. They feel it is ok to beat on women and that women are there too “upkeep the house and upkeep the men.” Shockingly alot of the other human rights violations i came across where to do with government commanding the military too murder people and shoot them down in their own countries. The government did this for the fact that citizens of these countries are fighting for their rights and are being attacked for these reasons.

          In most of the countries i looked at alot of them showed that the government has complete control and what they say goes. If you are to disobey the government then serious and lethal actions will be taken to make a point that if you fight the system the system will knock you off. Out of all the countries i looked at i would say that Canada has the most effective and fair human rights out of most of all of them. We are lucky to live in this country where our government, for the most part, defends our rights and applies them for us. In lower (and i dont mean to be rude by saying that) countries than ours they are denied the right to learn about there own rights and in this case cannot inforce them.

wow;

our good friend that wrote that innocent poem made us our own blog.

http://ivorwright.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/for-the-gay-comment-writers/

umm wow;

Last night Jessica and I were on a bus to colussus to go see a movie and at one of the stops this lady got on and some guys of spanish ethnicity were sitting at the front and they kind of had their legs stretched out. Well when the lady was walking towards the back she accidently tripped over one of the guys legs and as she was walking away she whispered “Stupid hindu’s.” Jessica and I both looked at each other like wow, what just happened there? It was one of the most racist things i have ever heard and she said it because of something she did. She had reasonable room to get around their legs and only because she tripped and felt embarassed she had to say a racist comment to in some way make herself feel better.

Mcdonalds’ 24 hour lobby;

ok so i work at mcdonalds, and just recently they have opened lobby (the full resteraunt) 24 hours. meaning customers can come into the resteraunt at anytime they want. On the weekends i usually work graveyard shift which is 11pm-7am and with this change i no longer feel safe working this shift. Just recently Mcdonalds has also fired alot of employees claiming they dont have the money to pay the employees and they cut back alot of shifts and there are not many hours for employees to work anymore. This has made me realize just how bad the economy has become when mcdonalds is forced to fire a bunch of employees and open lobby 24 hours which is a very unsafe idea. I myself have quit working 11pm-7am shifts as i dont see it safe to be working with people cominng in at any time of the night and there are only a few employees working. Anything could happen and i dont want to be the one standing behind the counter when someone decides to rob the place or something like that. But i think its just rediculous how greedy mcdonalds has gotten. They pull in thousands of dollars everyday and they claim they cant afford to pay their employees for overtime and that they need to put employees in dangerous situations with the public during late hours in the night.

Assignment #4:

I think that my beliefs and my values have a different affect on everyone. Like just the other night i was over at my grandparents house for a family dinner and i was appalled ,when i shared with my family the context of SJ12 and how great i thought it was that i would have a better understanding of things occurring all around me, my grandma got very defensive. I understand that my grandfather and herself are christian and such but it is my beliefs and my values and i want to learn about this.My aunt on the other hand was thrilled to hear about the course and was excited to hear i was in such a informative class.

I think that by expressing my beliefs and values in some ways i influence others to think about or rethink their values and beliefs which i hope is for the good. I don’t want to say that i impose my beliefs/values on people, but to be honest in the past i have and i don’t feel good about it. I have changed and realize everyone has their own beliefs and values and i respect there choices. I think whatever makes you happy makes you a person worth being around and as long as both individuals feel the freedom of expressing their own beliefs and values without imposing them on each-other then it makes both happy.