Sydney's Blogs

All Five-year-old Mahinarangi Tautu wants is for others to pronounce her name correctly. She currently attends daycare her mother was informed that the teachers have shortened her name because it was “too hard to pronounce”. But this goes much deeper than a simple miss pronunciation Mahinarangi ancestors had to shorten their name so it could be accepted into society. This all roots back to colonialism the constant rejection minorities face in society all ties back to colonialism from several European countries. Indigenous, African, Black, Latino, Asian and Indian have to fit into this stigma that non-minorities created from the way they dress, their hair, names, and the way they act to be considered “high class” or “intelligent”. This affects goes down to the long control exercised by the British Empire over much of North America, parts of Africa, and India.

How does a need for power and pride contribute to global transformations? For most people power means having control. Power is a drug similar to cocaine and heroin it’s addicting. You will never be satisfied you’ll continue to want more and more till you push away the ones you love. Along with power comes pride and wanting the ability to control everything. Many country leader crave power which causes other country leaders to clash heads national pride depends on access to political power. 

Many young girls dream of becoming a CEO of big exclusive companies. Movies like ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ encourage young ladies to take part in these high-level company roles. There are only 2 women top CEO’s in the world while 48 of them are men we can see there is a tremendous gender gap between the two! Which is only 4% of women who are successful CEOs we have to change this stigma where men are seen as a ‘better option’ with these high positions. According to the article ‘Wanted: More women in top jobs’ a study was conducted in 2014 where companies who have a balance between men and women are more successful and see more profit rises than when the companies dominated by men.

Many companies are seeing this problem and taking it into action but are failing. Germany, France, Norway, and Spain governments have to a sough to mandate progress by imposing quotas for women on executive boards. But the quota programs aren’t working in order to get more women on these jobs companies need to change their mindsets. Most women have children which means they’ll need their job to be flexible. High-position jobs fields like medicine and law, are not usually flexible they often have long hours that leave less time for family. If we look at the stats there are 83% of single mothers as of 2019 in the US which means over 22 million children grow up without a father in their household. These women are bound to need more time off, reduced hours, or even more flexible schedules to care for their children. Without them being not offered promotions, opportunities, or raises at the same rate as their co-workers. It’s the twenty century and women are still faced with these issues until these organizations change their mindsets they will keep losing women! Is this the example that we want to set for the next generation?

What exactly is “The Age of Absolutism” you may ask? The Age of Absolutism describes a period of European history in which monarchs successfully gathered the wealth and power of the state to themselves. In Ancient Europe there were philosophers that represented absolutism and constitutionalism, John Locke and Thomas Hobbes are well-known philosophers that represented absolutism and constitutionalism. Thomas Hobbes believed in the oppression of the lower class, the King obtains wealth directly from people and limiting the freedom of the masses by excessive surveillance and censorship. While John Locke believed that power should be divided amongst the institutions, protecting the rights of people, and ensuring freedom and liberty of the subject.

 Charles 1 was the son of James. James took the throne but he only took it after he died. Charles was forced to recall the parliament. Charles signed a document that is known as the Petition of Right.  But in the petition of right the king only agreed to four points. Charles imposed fees and fines on the English people to gain money which led his popularity to decrease each year.  Petition of Right of 1628 was an English document that helped promote the civil rights of the subjects of King Charles I. The actions of the king led the people to stand up for and insist upon their civil rights in a manner that is still having influence today. The petition sought recognition of four principles: no taxation without the consent of Parliament, no imprisonment without cause, no quartering of soldiers on subjects, and no martial law in peacetime. 

Charles II and James II, William & Mary and Oliver Cromwell had a significant impact on the European nations in a positive but yet negative way. The outcome of Charles II and James II rule Charles ll came into London in 1660. He was a Catholic monarchy which during his ruling it was called the Restoration. During his ruling he made many political acts and laws such as The Habeas Corpus Act guarantees freedom for prisoners and allows them to have a written document that says they can go before the court and specify charges against the prisoner. The Habeas Corpus Act a monarchy could not put someone in jail simply for opposing the ruler. Also, prisoners could not be put in jail forever without trial. Soon the Parliament would find someone to inherit Charles’s throne but since he had no children the next available in line was his brother James ll. James ll became king in 1685 soon after Charles ll died. James soon offended his subject by displaying his catholicism. He then violated the English law as he appointed several Catholics to high office. In 1688 James’s second wife gave birth to a son. The English Protestants became afraid of the prospect of a line of catholic kings. He even had a daughter named Mary. Mary was married to William, The prince of the Netherlands. The parliament members invited William and Mary to overthrow James for the sake of Protestantism. But then once William led his army to London in 1688, James fled to France. This bloody overthrow was called the Glorious Revolution. 

King William and Mary transferred England from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. This constitutional monarchy limited the power of the ruler and gave that power back to the people. In order to protect this, the Bill of Rights was erected. The Bill of Rights lays down limits on the powers of the monarch and sets out the rights of Parliament including the requirement for regular parliaments, free elections, and freedom of speech in Parliament. The main idea of the English Bill of Rights is the freedom to petition the king, Freedom to bear arms for self-defense, Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail, and freedom from taxation by royal prerogative, without the agreement of Parliament. These rights couldn’t be enacted without the consent of the Monarch and in the 1700s this came to be an issue. So they created another part of the government called the cabinet. The cabinet was a group of representatives led by the Prime Minister: the leader of the parliament; that represented the ruler’s name and became the link between the monarchy and the parliament. This all created an everlasting change that forever changed England from an absolute and unjust rule to a more fair and balanced constitutional system.

Oliver Cromwell was a political and military leader.Cromwell was the first to write a detailed new constitution known as the Instrument of the Government.It placed great power in the executive formed by the ‘Protector’ many of the members were military commanders. The country continued to be governed by military rule however according to the Instrument the Protector was to summon Parliament at least once every three years.This was a constitution which reduced the power of the Council and recommended that Cromwell proclaim himself King. Cromwell was one of the generals on the parliamentary side in the English Civil War against King Charles I. Cromwell helped bring about the overthrow of the Stuart monarchy and as lord protector he raised his country’s status  leading the European power. 

The Innocence Project

 It is estimated that between 2.3 percent and 5 percent of all US prisoners are innocent. The number of incarcerated Americans being approximately 2.4 million by that estimate as many as 120,000 people may be incarcerated as a result of wrongful conviction.DNA technology can prove if people are guilty of the crimes and can also prove that people falsely incarcerated inmates’ innocent. The Innocence Project has changed the justice system for the better, both by freeing the innocent and by encouraging scrutiny of all types of evidence presented in the courtroom.

As an Informist, I want to inform others on how our justice system has continued to let down the citizens of this country. Imagine if you’re loved one was accused of a crime that DNA evidence proved that he was innocent but yet served over a decade in prison for a crime he had no connections with? That’s what happened to 16-year-old Korey Wise’s investigators made him confess to a murder for the hope of freedom he spent 13 years in prison for a crime DNA evidence proved he didn’t commit. Korey Wise received $1.5 million from the state court, but money doesn’t erase what happened to him he was robbed out of his childhood. Imagine if that was your son! You can find more information about the Central Park Five on Netflix “When they see us” is on Netflix now! What can we do? We need to draw attention to the situation we need our juries to be diverse and nonbias as well as our judges. We have to stop giving these innocent people that have spent half of their lives for a crime they didn’t commit millions of dollars. Money can’t erase what happened nor clear their names to even be able to get a job or pursue a career. The judges then need to start taking accountability for their actions we can’t rebuild this justice system. There isn’t a certain way we can fix our justice system, ill never know when our justice system will be fixed but if theirs a way I can help innocent people regain their life back then ill do that.

To answer the question How do the actions of the people influence leadership? Actions are a big part of being a leader or showing leadership. You can’t say you show any form of leadership if you tear others down, discourage others, shut down everyone’s ideas, and revert to your own opinion. When you make decisions that are best for everyone when you see someone who constantly builds people up, encourages others, and edifies them that’s what a true leader is.

The 2020 Election is approaching many are saying Biden will when while others are saying Trump will win. From the polls, Biden is in the lead as of right now. More teens are actually going out and voting. But yet is this enough to get Trump out of office?

Biden has 17 electoral votes with a total of 238 while Trump has 23 electoral votes with a total of 213 (November 4, 2020; 11:10am). In the article https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/29/what-we-can-trust-2020-election-polls-to-tell-us/, it states “But if we look back on the 2016 election Hilary was clearly ahead in the polls but Donald Trump was still elected president”. Micheal Dimock makes a good point many Americans are wondering if the polls are even reliable. We also need to keep in consideration that many submitted their votes through the mail due which can take 3-5 days to count due to the pandemic currently going on while others voted in person.

Looking Into The Election

Looking at the polls from “realclearpolitics.com” If Biden wins Nevada, Wisconsin, and Michigan he will have a win with exactly 270 while Trump will follow with 264 electoral votes. Currently, Biden is favored to win many. Biden had been predicted to win against Trump in opinion polls, but yet the polls are very close and many officials predict that it could take days for them totally enough votes to determine a winner.

According to the article “Biden will win. Republicans Should Understand Why”, “Trump was never ahead of Biden in the RCP national average, which has been tracked since September 2019. And according to RCP’s presidential job approval average, Trump has the unique distinction of never holding an approval number higher than 47.3% (forget about 50%) and almost never earning an approval number higher than his disapproval rating. (Trump was above water by just 0.1 points for one day, the very first day RCP began tracking his job approval: Jan. 27, 2017.).” This shows that Biden will have some type of lead in this election.

Many Republicans and former Trump supporters have said they will be voting blue this year. From a survey conducted in 2020 by https://www.usatoday.com/, “56% of Republicans have said they will be voting blue this year.” The way he is handling the COVID19 Outbreak and his remarkable responses to the BlackLivesMatter Movement made many of his supporters reconsider their decisions. Bill Scher stated, “The discrepancy between his poll numbers and economic numbers strongly suggests that most Americans have been so repulsed by his divisive, self-serving and just plain mean behavior…They just want him gone.”

Now we can look more into the electoral college votes. It is predicted that Biden is likely to become president. Currently, Biden has the chance of winning by 97%, while Trump only has about a 3% chance. VP Joe Biden also has the chance of winning the most votes with a 99% chance 1% going to Trump. In conclusion, From taking everything into consideration I believe Joe Biden will be victorious in this election.

My Opinion

But Trump is proven to be a racist, rapist, pedophile, and supports white supremacy but yet many people still want him to be president. Biden is well experience he served as the United States Senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009 and he served as Obama’s vice president for 2 terms. When Biden wins I believe he will be moving the US forward as a nation in a positive way. Many groups Trump has targeted such as POC, Immigrant, and LGBTQ+ community will feel much safer when Biden becomes president.

This was all my opinion I respect everyone else’s political opinions, Thank you for reading my blog you can also try out my quick survey down below! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdaEfPu1BypNNdVMEuWe9twMOGPLB8zZT4YOkWDGdTVKwgCwQ/viewform

You may be asking what is “The Reformation”? The Reformation started back in the 16th a man named Martin Luther took a stand against the Catholic Church because the church was selling indulgences. He believed the pope was abusing its power. He then challenged the church’s doctrine that stated the pope was not the ultimate spiritual authority. 

Martin Luther began to start his own practice the difference in practice between Martin Luther’s Protestant religion and the Catholic Church is the salvation of Jesus Christ. Protestant thinkers used the printing press to spread their ideas across Europe. The Reformation also had an impact socially, religiously, and politically. The Reformation social effect would be Protestants began building new schools and providing educations for others wanting to know more about Christianity. While the religious effect is Luther encouraged Christians to pray together in daily services. The Reformation affected the Catholic Church politically because after the Catholic Church ruled Luther a protestant Europe then began to divide.

The Uighur Muslims Cry For Help

More than three million Uighur Muslims are held in concentration camps in China. The camps are torturing and targeting the Uighur people and brainwashing them to disown their religion and become common citizens. Men are forcefully held in the concentration camps, and children are sent to orphanages. Women are being harassed, raped, and forcefully married to other Chinese men. They are forced to eat pork, consume alcohol, and denounce themselves as Muslims.

These camps are located in. Xinjiang, China with over 1.5 million people as of January 2019. These camps have been going on since April 2018- now. After acknowledging the existence of camps, China started letting out some of the detainees. But there are still over a million people in these camps.

How does becoming enlightened change your willingness to take a risk? Being enlightened doesn’t change your willingness to take a risk many. For example, Uighur people are being enlightened people are trying to help them get out of these re-education camps. They are genuinely afraid of what would happen to them if they were to speak up many women have spoken up and the Chinese government have taken their children and killed them. 

Two Video links: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gTZ5c6R3_rfikjvrwzWQ5-cDIZ0h8rzwJjcnyGnAY7k/edit

Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k8_d6cUbGGPRtU6sQ0yrzRg0RdGv2QjowI89YAvkers/edit

When we first think of this question we would say Yes, killing humans does make you a Psychopath. But have you ever thought why these people kill humans? When we think about serial killers we think of Ted Bundy, Aileen Wuornos, and Charles Manson or even General Zaroff from “The Most Dangerous Games. We see serial killers as wicked or mentally unstable.

Exploring the Mind of a Psychopath

In the article “Into the Mind of a Psychopath” by Danielle Egan the article explained. That there is much more to the mind of a Psychopath than we think. Candian Psychologist Robert Hare discovered data that is pure life-changing. In 2009 Kiehl was hired to do a brain scan on a Chicago prisoner serving multiple murder sentences and who was convicted of the 1983 rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl. She discovered there are striking differences between a psychopath and non-psychopath brains.  The structure and function of the psychopaths’ brains differ.

In the short story “The Most Dangerous Games” by Richard Connell General Zaroff said he started hunting humans due to animals were boring him he didn’t feel the adrenalin rush anymore. In the article “Into the Mind of a Psychopath” by Danielle Egan discussed the traits of a psychopath and killing animals is a common trait of a psychopath. For instance, Jeffrey Dahmer started killing animals then began killing humans he is one of the most known serial killers. Psychopaths have common logic of the rules of society and the difference between right and wrong and they choose which rules to follow or ignore. But with brain scans, they can be used to categorize psychopaths and be used in court trials.

A lot of us deal with negativity no matter if it’s at home, school, or even your friends. Negativity limits your potential to become something great. Learning how to get rid of negative energy can have a significant effect on your mental health. Negative and positive energy will always exist, the key to becoming positive is to limit the amount of negativity that we experience by filling ourselves up with more positivity.

Here’s how to get rid of negative energy and become more positive:

1. Surround Yourself with Positive People

It is very difficult to become more positive when the people around us don’t support or demonstrate positive behavior. We become like the people that we surround ourselves with. As you become more positive, you’ll notice that your existing friends can either appreciate the new you or they’re going to become immune to your positive changes. Change is scary but cutting out the negative people in your life is a huge step to becoming more positive. Positive people reflect and bounce their perspectives on to you.

2. Direct Your Thinking Away From Negative Energy

One thing that I’ve realized is that we can be our best coach or our worst enemy. Change starts from within if you want to become more positive change the wording of your thoughts can help a lot! We tend to be the hardest on ourselves. The next time you have a negative thought, write it down and rephrase it with a positive spin. For example, change a thought like “I can’t believe I did so horrible on that test I suck” to “I didn’t do as well as I hoped to on this test, but I know I’m capable, and I’ll do better next time.” Changing your self-talk is powerful.

 3. Turn Negative Energy Into Positive Action

Negative energy and thoughts can be overwhelming becoming positive can be hard for others. It completely normal to have freak-outs or even stress more than usual. If you’re learning how to get rid of negative energy, you need to start turning it into positive action. The next time you’re in a situation and feel bad walk away and take a break. Close your eyes take a few deep breaths. Once you’re calm approach the situation. You can even write out four or five actions or solutions to begin solving the problem

Well, there you have it! 3 ways to Get Rid of Negative Energy and Become Positive! Often just take a step back and enjoy what’s in front of you. Try out the techniques above and tell me one’s work best for you! Try out my survey down below!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1mb_6ZN2X_brR2GgSOxk_rgYgqh0vlnH5_B3RO_x2Kp168Q/viewform