Invasion of Privacy

Invasion of Privacy

            Tyler Clementi had his whole life ahead of him.  He was a very talented young man at playing violin.  One small favor turned into a tragic nightmare for his family.  It was because he was different than his roommate and it led him to his death.  This is happened at Rutgers University, a much respected school in the east.  The sad fact is that this would have happen at the University of Illinois at Chicago too.

            Tyler was a student at the Rutgers and he was gay.  One day, he just asked his roommate to be alone with his boyfriend in his room for a while and his roommate let him be alone.  Not only did he leave, he had a webcam on that recorded the whole thing while he was in a friend’s room.  Many of the other students saw them and the teasing began for a week.  Tyler was so depressed that he decided to take his life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.  Many students that knew him wrote on a Facebook group page that was made in his honor, but of all the memories that had of him and hoping that he rests in peace.

            This is a tragic story about someone who just wanted a couple hours alone with their partner.  His roommate really should not have recorded what they did, and post it on the internet.  The reason that I believe that this would happen at UIC is because Rutgers is one of the most diverse universities in the United States.  It is has many people of different races, religions, beliefs, etc.  Rutgers is not known for being an anti-gay college and many former alumni felt accepted on the campus.  “I’ve always dreamed of going to a place like Rutgers, where it wasn’t a big deal to be gay” said Shane Windmeyer, founder and executive director of Campus Pride.  This could happen anywhere because in every college there are going to be people that disagree with the whole issue about being gay.  No matter where you go there will be people that support equal rights and those who strongly disagree with it.  There will never be a time when everyone agrees on the same thing because it makes us an individual to go against the crowd.  Here at UIC, there are many groups and people that you can talk to if you have any problems.  Again, many other colleges have these groups to help those in need and Tyler did not seek out this help.  Help may have saved his life, but he never looked for it and no one got it for him.  This is just one thing that our society has to deal with, the inability of some to accept others for who they are.  It is a sad that this young man lost his life because his roommate decided to break his privacy.  There were many things he could have done to get help with getting through this event, but it was just too embarrassing to talk about it with anyone.  I think that if he had received help, then it would have just prolonged his suffering.  The reason it would be prolonged is because it is difficult for many teens to be comfortable with their peers when they know they are gay.  Some of their peers do not accept them and decide to just bully them for being an individual.   

Clearly, this is a problem throughout the United States as more and more teens are committing suicide because of bullying.  It is time to for us to look in the mirror and decide do we want the next generation to be more accepting of others differences or not.  Change is something that is always needed in society, and right now we need even more than expected.

Heisman Trophy Gone

Heisman Trophy Gone

            “He’s at the twenty, the ten, the five, and touchdown Trojans.  This young man has all the ability to become a star in the NFL.”  This was heard many times by anyone that watched Reggie play and was said by many announcers that had the opportunity to call his games.  Reggie Bush was one of the best college football players and was rewarded with the Heisman trophy.  After years of speculation, it was finally proven that he broke one of the NCAA’s rules.   He was given money and many other gifts from two sports marketers that wanted to use his name to make money.  Reggie should have never won the Heisman in the first place and he should have never been on the ballot.

            Taking money violates one of the qualifications to become eligible to be nominated for the award.   One of the qualifications is that any player cannot be eligible for the award if he has broken any of the NCAA’s rules.  “There is proof that he was given money and many other gifts and not only him but his family also received these benefits,” according to William C. Rhoden of the New York Times.  It is not fair to the other candidates that are worthy of the award and did not break any of the NCAA’s rules.  There are reasons why there are rules to qualify and the NCAA sets these rules to show that the recipient is the best of the best.  The NCAA made these rules for a reason.  The NCAA already made the University of Southern California give their trophy back and put them under probation.  “The trophy should not just be vacated, it should be awarded to the runner up, Vince Young,” says Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel.  It should go to Young because he was the runner-up and just like when the winner of a Miss USA pageant is unable to fulfill her duties, the runner-up fills that role.   He deserves it more than Bush because it was Young’s Longhorns that defeated Bush’s Trojans in the Rose Bowl.  Not only did Young beat Bush in the Rose Bowl Young scored the winning touchdown and Bush had a costly fumble that led to the Trojans’ demise. 

            There are many reasons why many feel he should keep his trophy.  One of them is that he did not cheat; taking the gifts did not affect his play because with or without the money he was one of the most explosive players in all of college football.  This is true, there is no questioning his skill as a player, but he is supposed to be a role model for the younger generation.  Taking money or gifts just because you are athletic is not right because many people have other greater talents but are not offered any money.  Also, there were many other players that followed the rule of not taking money, and they had a great season statistically.  The NCAA made those rules for a reason and because Reggie broke them, he has to deal with the consequences.   One of the biggest arguments why he should be allowed to keep it is that; one former winner was put in jail for counter fitting, another sold his to get out of personal debt, and the last person was OJ, all three of these winners did not have their trophies taken away.  They may not have had their trophies taken away by the committee, but two of them lost their due to their own problems.  In all the record books it will list each of them as the winner of the Heisman because when they won the award they followed the NCAA’s rules.   It could also be debated that he is an athlete and he probably get special treatment from the schools and others and how is taking this gift wrong from taking anything the university provides him.  Reggie is an athlete and athletes do receive special treatment in college because they make the college money and make them known to other athletes.  The things he receives from the university more than reimburse him from the cost of college so it takes away any problems with paying for college.  The university is also providing a free education to him, when others are struggling to pay their tuition.  The gifts he received from the marketers are just bribes to make that agency money by using the name Reggie Bush.  He may have just been used to everything given to him and that it was not wrong to take the money and gifts from the agency.  Reggie should still know the rules of the NCAA before playing and it is not an excuse that he thought it was no big deal to accept gifts from others.

            Reggie Bush was one of the most entertaining players to watch in college, but rules are there for a reason and nothing can change that.    He made some mistakes, but he has to live with the consequences like the rest of us have to and should not get any special treatment because he is an athlete.  It is time that the rules be enforced.

Two Simple Steps

Two Simple Steps

Every student has to go through the difficulties of writing a paper.  Sometimes that difficulty leads to an act of desperation.  This one act can change a student’s life and future.  There are two simple steps that every student has used, called copy and paste.  Technology has allowed plagiarism to spread because of how easy it is to not only find another person’s work, but claim it as their own.

Writing a paper is really difficult for many students and it takes time for an idea to be shaped into a work of art.  I have heard from many of my English teachers that no paper is perfect and even the best writers make mistakes and need revisions.  Writing is a process that takes time and no one can master a paper on the first draft.  There is always the temptation of taking the easy way out for students whether it is laziness, stress, or just no time.  The ease of just searching a topic on a search engine and then clicking on one of the results has made writing a paper easier than the years when there was no internet and books were the only source of information.  The access to information is so easy and convenient, that most of the time students can just go on their computer at home to search for information regarding their topic.   We live in a society that makes references to popular culture.  Many television shows use jokes or plot ideas that have been used by previous television programs.  It is everywhere in our society.  It is just that easy to take someone’s idea and copy it and claim that it is your own.  “It’s possible to believe this information is just out there for anyone to take.” said Teresa Fishman, director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University.  Many students think that some of the articles that they find have no author, so it is fine to copy the ideas in that article and not give any credit to the article.  It is easy now to plagiarize, but it is also easy to get caught with the many sources available to schools and universities. 

It is true that many people that are caught plagiarizing did not know that they were plagiarizing.  Technology has helped change the way we receive information, it also has provided so much information that students have to be tempted to use one of the millions articles about whatever topic that they are writing about.  All it takes is just a simple click and anyone’s work on the internet is now in “yours” and no one has to know.  Technology has made many students become dependent on the internet to finish any paper.  Technology has also made it easier to catch those that do steal the ideas of others with just a quick search of a sentence.  Technology has made it easier to find information but it also has made the information accessible to many people that can steal any one of those ideas.  It is not the fault of the teachers or anyone it is just with the ease of finding information that it was bound that somebody was going to steal another person’s idea and then it would spread.

Technology has done a lot to help us receive information easier, but it has also influenced the ease of plagiarism.  It will never go away, but we need to help students understand how to avoid doing it and show them all the problems with stealing another person’s idea.  We also need to teach students that writing may be difficult but after some time each person will develop their own style or voice and it will make the process of writing more enjoyable.

Public Humiliation

Public Humiliation

            Caster Semenya was born in a small village in South Africa.  She won the world championships for running.  This was a great accomplishment in her young life and it looked like she was going to have an illustrious career as a runner.  Then, one accusation was all it took to change her life forever.  The media took this accusation and made it news to the whole world.   The media was the main source of her humiliation because they drew unnecessary attention to this matter, violated her privacy, and made a story of the controversy. 

            It all started when the other runners felt that it was unfair that Caster was allowed to race with the other women.  Many of the other runners felt that she was too masculine to be considered a woman and that it provided an unfair advantage.  The other competitors wanted Caster to take a gender test in order to prove that she was a female because to the naked eye she looks very masculine.  The test was supposed to be done in private, but the media got a hold of the story and it was in the news everywhere.  Her whole investigation was made public and many people voiced their thoughts on the topic of whether Caster was male or female, especially the other competitors.  "Even if she is a female, she's on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing. So, from that perspective, most of us just feel that we are literally running against a man," said Diane Cummins, one of the women that raced against Caster.  It was a dark time for Caster and her family because everyone was questioning her gender.  It was found that she had the chromosomes of XXY, meaning she was both male and female.

            This whole situation could have been handled in a better manner.  Caster’s gender dispute did not need to be made public for the entire world to hear.  It was a controversy, but it did not need so much speculation and attention focused on whether this one person was male or female.  The attention could have been better used on a hero in a small town, or on the many questions with the economy.  It was a private matter to begin with and should have been kept that way.  There was no need for everyone to embarrass this young woman about her gender.  When I first heard about this story, I felt that the other competitors were just sore losers and took the easy way out and accused Caster of being a male.  It was really unfair how she was publically humiliated for having a difference, when as a culture we are taught to be tolerant of the differences of others.  The differences between us make us unique and make the world diverse.  There was no need to make her test results be released to the public, and it should have been kept private, but sadly it was not.

She is a professional athlete and it is one of the effects of being so athletic.  The job description of being an athlete does not list being humiliated in the public’s eye.  We hear stories about when an athlete is caught breaking the law, but none of those stories are analyzed and talked about as much as this one was.  Caster did what she loved to do, which is run competitively and no one can blame her for pursuing her passion.  The media does have the responsibility of reporting any controversies that occur in sports because sports are part of the media.  This is true, but how many people in the media can explain how it feels to have everyone know about a private condition.  The media needs to take accountability that they did change Caster’s life forever.  It was not just a controversy of whether she cheated or used performance enhancing drugs; it is a condition that she was born with.  The media invaded her privacy by