Category: Uncategorized

In the past two years, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, came under fire for their inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants. Along the border of Mexico in one El Paso detention center, government officials cram 900 adults and children into a space designed for a maximum of 125 people. They have no access to soap or toothpaste, nor space to bathe or cleanse themselves. Adults stood for days due to lack of space, sometimes on toilets to breathe, while children slept on the concrete floors. Their clothes are dirty and soiled, unchanged for weeks. In detention centers like that of El Paso, disease runs rampant, with outbreaks of lice, flu, chicken pox, and scabies.

One asylum seeker from Guatemala, Yazim Juárez, lost her daughter Mariee while imprisoned in an ICE detention center. Mariee, only 19 months-old, experienced symptoms of cough, fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. “‘I begged them to do deeper exams, but they [the detention facility’s medical staff] sent us back to our room,’ she told Congress. At one point, the staff treated 19-month-old Mariee with Vicks VapoRub, which is not recommended for children under 2” (Joung). After her release from the detention center, Juárez sought medical care for her daughter. She was hospitalized for 6 weeks, but it was too late:

“Mariee died on what is Mother’s Day in my country. When I walked out of the hospital that day, all I had with me was a piece of paper with Mariee’s handprints in pink paint.” (Joung)

As the threat of coronavirus continues to swell, concern for the safety of ICE detention centers has been amplified. In a press call yesterday, Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) stated that at least 9 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been linked to ICE facilities — four immigrants in custody and five employees. In Pennsylvania, a federal judge ordered the release of 11 detainees from a detention center due to underlying conditions that made them more vulnerable to contracting the virus. Doctors and activists point to past outbreaks that have occurred in detention centers. Medical care in the ICE facilities has repeatedly proven negligent. And, as detainees are forced to leave, their presence will likely impact local hospitals, which don’t have the means to provide medical care to a large population.

In an email about custody determinations, Danielle Bennett — a spokeswoman for ICE — wrote the following: “When making such decisions, ICE officers weigh a variety of factors, including the person’s criminal record, immigration history, ties to the community, risk of flight, and whether he or she poses a potential threat to public safety” (Bernal). However, the majority of individuals detained by ICE have no criminal record, and that majority is rising.

Furthermore, ICE agents have continued to perform raids. Agents in Los Angeles, California, have raided immigrant communities even during their “shelter-in-place” lockdown, which “ordered everyone to stay home except to do ‘essential’ activities necessary to survive” (Lopez and Holmes).

How does this relate to ethical living? 

ICE detention centers have been and repeatedly prove to be extremely unethical. However, the actions of the government and its officials have been even more unforgivable in these times. Undocumented immigrants are already scared of the unknown. How will they feed their families without employment, especially when they cannot apply for federal aid? How will they find and afford medical care? It is time we take the uncertainty of imprisonment away.

As a country, we often boast of our democratic rights, like freedom of thought and freedom of religion. While these rights repeatedly prove fundamental to the function of our republic, they haven’t always been equally distributed. The right to vote, or suffrage, has had a complicated and controversial history. As time has progressed, an increasing number of people have garnered suffrage, from white male laborers to women, and ultimately people of color over a hundred years later. The Voters Rights Act and subsequent legislation have furthered the recognition of many Americans’ right to vote. But still, countless citizens face barriers to their suffrage. Oftentimes, states require photo identification and enforce strict registration deadlines; and many of these same states limit early voting or access to alternative (non-booth) methods (McElwee). These hostile policies foster unequal representation in the democratic process, with underprivileged people (people of color and of low socioeconomic status) being disproportionately underrepresented. While these policies seek to disenfranchise underprivileged people, other policies actively do: those which disenfranchised imprisoned people.

Like suffrage in general, suffrage for prisoners is a contentious discussion. Specifically, the discussions surround those convicted of a felony, or the highest degree of crime. In only two states, Maine and Vermont, do felons always have the right to vote, even while incarcerated. Meanwhile, in 11 states felons lose their ability to vote indefinitely (NCSL).

The case for enfranchising ex-convicts is far clearer than that of those currently serving. Steve Chapman, a columnist at the Chicago Tribune, argues that when convicts exit prison, they are again granted their rights. They are allowed to speak and practice religion freely. They can get married, have children, drive, and buy alcohol. Still, there is an underlying fear in granting them the right to choose our leaders. However, “[i]f we thought criminals could never be reformed, we wouldn’t let them out of prison in the first place” (Chapman).

Additionally, the disenfranchisement of ex-convicts further perpetuates the disenfranchisement of underprivileged people. Unfortunately, people of color and of low socioeconomic status are targeted by our broken criminal justice system. In an address at the Georgetown University Law Center, Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the following: “Throughout America, 2.2 million black citizens — or nearly one in 13 African-American adults — are banned from voting because of these laws. In three states — Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia — that ratio climbs to one in five”  (Holder).

Prison-reform activists, including prisoners themselves, also argue for the enfranchisement of prisoners currently serving sentences. Prisoners, who are kept in institutions owned or contracted by the government, experience the effects of the government at a greater level than the average person, and their votes may force politicians to address the injustices of the criminal justice system. Furthermore, granting convicts the right to vote may give them a sense of purpose. When asked his opinion on felon enfranchisement, convicted felon Norman Brown said the following:

You tell yourself every day, you are someone. This becomes your coping mechanism but deep down inside you feel powerless to change the hopelessness of being stripped and reduced to a number. You are in effect broken. Giving or restoring voting rights would be a step toward healing and restoring the humanity to human beings that have been broken. (Kim)

Sentiments antagonistic of felon suffrage continue to pervade the political sphere because of partisanship. When Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored voting rights to felons no longer in prison, Republicans disagreed, thinking “ex-convicts, who are disproportionately black and poor, would vote much like other low-income African Americans . . . so adding them . . . would penalize Republicans” (Chapman).

Over Spring Break, I went on a trip that changed my perspective on the world around me. It was a trip to Asheville, North Carolina, with Penn State Alternative Breaks, and it had a focus on environmental justice. For a week, I picked up litter along the road, built trash-collecting devices to place in rivers, and helped re-pot one thousand trees. Excitingly, I also learned about what I am going to talk to you all about today: composting.

Simply put, composting is the process of decomposing natural matter into the soil. Some examples of this natural matter include food scraps and leaves. As this natural matter decays, it transforms into nutrient-rich soil.

Why Compost? 

Each year, the world wastes more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food — one-third of all food produced for consumption. In the United States, the majority of that food is lost post-production, meaning it was fit for human consumption but not consumed (Depta). Coupled with inedible food scraps and other organic materials, it becomes easier to see how one-third of our landfills are filled with compostable materials (AgRecycle).

Usually, organic materials naturally decay using oxygen to create carbon dioxide. In landfills, however, they find themselves covered by trash and other inorganic materials. Thus, they are forced to undergo anaerobic decomposition, which produces methane. Methane, unfortunately, is 26 times stronger of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Half of greenhouse gas emissions from waste stem from this process of anaerobic fermentation. By composting, we can reduce the impact of waste transportation while also reducing the amount of land we destroy to build landfills (Brooksbank).

How to Compost

I realize the idea of composting can be pretty daunting. It is tough to implement and continue with a lifestyle change, especially in a stressful time like recently. However, I am here to arm you with some helpful tips, and hopefully, you will see that it isn’t too hard after all.

The easiest way to compost is to do so commercially. In State College, where I live, a green trash can for composting was provided to all residents. Residents can fill these trash cans and place them along with their other recyclables and trash when it is due to be picked up. This compost is later taken to a commercial center, or a large scale facility that manages a large amount of waste. If you are too busy to handle your own composting bin, or you are simply uninterested, commercial composting offers an apt solution.

If you are interested in getting your hands (a little bit more) dirty, you can go on two routes. The first, and more common, is an outdoor compost bin. To create your bin, find a container with open holes for oxygen to enter. Place sticks and leaves at the bottom to provide structure, and then create layers of greens (nitrogen-rich materials like food scraps) and browns (carbon-rich materials like dried leaves and eggshells). Ideally, your compost bin should be about two-thirds browns. Stir the bin periodically to introduce air into the system, and water the compost to prevent it from drying out. Do not compost meat or dairy, as it will attract animals, and avoid putting weeds or diseased plants in your bin, as it may spread their seeds through the soil. Furthermore, “hard” compostables, like compostable silverware, may not compost for several years, so they are better to compost commercially.

You can also compost through vermiculture (worms!), but be careful: worms are pickier with the food they eat, and they prefer to be placed in dark, cooler places (like your basement).

Yesterday, March 4, was a national day of awareness to “Spread the Word to End the Word.” The global campaign was started just over a decade ago at the Special Olympics Global Youth Activation Summit, with the goal to stop the use of the word retarded.

The r-word  originated from the Latin word retardare, meaning to hold up or delay, and was first used to replace outdated terms like imbecile and idiot. As the r-word became increasingly connected with hateful speech in the later 20th century, it was replaced with other, more politically-correct terminology.

Still, the r-word persists today. As I was walking with friends at night back to our dorms, someone said the word. The word has become so ingrained within our own lexicon that we don’t recognize why it is so offensive. When Ann Coulter called (then) President Obama the r-word in a tweet, Special Olympics athlete John Franklin Stephens wrote the following:

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me.  You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV . . . Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor. No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much. (Stevens)

The “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign isn’t only about ending the r-word, though. It is about respecting, and ultimately recognizing people as people, not as disabilities. Another way that we can accomplish this is through the use of people-first language. Oftentimes, when discussing ability, we describe people by their disability. A person who uses a wheelchair becomes defined by their wheelchair, and thus an “other,” different than the rest of us. By using people-first language, we can prevent this unintentional marginalization and dehumanization. When we mentally connect a person to their disability, we may reinforce the thought that the person and the trait are bad, which leads to discrimination. Using people-first language is pretty easy. For example, rather than saying “a deaf person,” say “a person who is deaf.” To the side of this paragraph is a list of other examples you can use.

This person first language extends past discussions on ability. When talking about addiction, we can say “a person with a substance abuse disorder” rather than “a substance abuser.” This again helps us humanize people who are suffering from addiction, and reinforces the idea that addiction is a permanent state fundamental to some people’s beings.

How it relates to ethical living?

As informed, responsible citizens, it is important that we remember the importance of our words. As children, we learn that unlike sticks and stones, words can’t hurt — but that is untrue. Our words are incredibly powerful, and we can choose to use them for good.

Last week, I wrote how the sexual assault of men is played off for comedy. As I was researching the topic, I realized one particular type of joke kept resurfacing: jokes about prison rape.

When 19-year-old pop star Justin Bieber was arrested in 2014, media was swarmed with countless headlines, and with those headlines came countless jokes. Many of those jokes were about prison rape. For example, late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien said the following:

“The police report described him as 5-feet, 9-inches and 140 lbs . . . Or as his cell mate put it, ‘just right’.” (Ray)

After Bieber’s arrest, memes began to trend on Facebook. One photo depicted Bieber in an orange jumpsuit, smiling next to “a dark-skinned, seemingly angry black man,” with a caption that implied the man would rape him (Lash).  The post received over 400,000 likes and 20,000 shares.

One similarly shared meme again showed Bieber superimposed next to a black man. The caption, from the voice of the rapist, reads “Beliebe me . . . I’ll be gentle.” These cruel jokes are the kind a “coordinator for prison rape prevention would be expected to try to combat . . . [e]xcept for one thing: One of Michigan’s prison rape prevention coordinators was the person who posted it” (Roelofs).

Many other examples of these jokes continue to pervade pop culture. In countless television shows, even ones for children, characters are told to “not drop the soap,” as it leaves them vulnerable to unwanted, nonconsensual penetration.

Prison Rape

In 1996, correctional officers found 17-year-old Rodney Hulin Jr hanged by his bed sheet from the top of his door cell. He was transferred from a small jail to the Clemens Unit in Brazoria County due to new laws that sent youth who committed non-violent crimes to be sent to adult prisons. “[W]ithin three days of his arrival” he was “raped, beaten, and forced to perform oral sex” (Chammah).

Hulin’s rape was tragic but not surprising. When the Scottsboro boys (a group of nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women) were sent to prison in 1937, one noted the prevalence of sexual assault against (especially young, small) inmates: after being “beaten into submission . . . [they] eventually ‘sold themselves around on the weekends just like whore women on the streets.” After Human Rights Watch published “No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons,” which detailed accounts of over 200 survivors across 34 states, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (Chammah). Seventeen years later, prison rape has continued to devastate the lives of millions of Americans.

How it Connects to Ethical Living

In American prisons, an estimated 200,000 people face sexual abuse each year. However, they often-times aren’t able to raise their voices: (1) the structure of jails and prisons are difficult to monitor, (2) jail culture prevents the reporting of sexual assault, and (3) perpetrators rarely face retribution (Gennaco).

Like with the sexual assault of men, we should look at why these jokes are funny. I believe many of the reasons mentioned in my last blog remain true: it is funny to us when men are forcefully put into feminine positions. But even more so, we find sexual assault to be its own kind of retribution. That in some deranged way these “sub-human” criminals deserve it, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

As you drive down the highway, you will probably see a sign that reads something like this: “Pregnant? Scared? Call us.” Like I have, you may scoff, wondering who this sign is even talking to, or you may just ignore it. But somewhere, perhaps down the road, perhaps across the country, someone makes the call. She may be a young teenager, unsure if she can handle a baby on top of her school and extracurriculars. She may be a young woman trying to work her way out of poverty. She may be a rape survivor, afraid to give birth to a constant reminder of the pain she faced.

These advertisements come from Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs). Known by several other names, including (but not limited to) Pregnancy Resource Centers, Pregnancy Support Centers, and Pregnancy Choice Centers, they search for women contemplating what may prove to be one of the most difficult decisions of their lives: having an abortion. While seemingly neutral, a quick look into these centers reveals a divergent reality, one where vulnerable women are coerced into keeping their baby or giving it up for adoption.

Oftentimes, these centers present themselves as health centers. Their employees wear lab coats and parade medical equipment, and they are located near, beside, or even in front of clinics that offer abortions.  They offer interested women pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, counseling, and even items to take care of their baby (like diapers, clothes, and parenting classes). While these centers appear to be medically-sound, the workers provide fraudulent and hazardous information: sometimes, women are told abortions can be performed up to their delivery-date, which effectively prevents women from having abortions; they even go so far as to say aborted fetal limbs can become dislodged in the organs of pregnant women, killing them (LastWeekTonight).

How do Crisis Pregnancy Centers Relate to Ethical Living?

Crisis Pregnancy Centers are entirely unethical: (1) they “strive to appear as sites offering clinical services and unbiased advice . . . have names and logos similar to nearby abortion clinics . . . [and] target women who are most likely to seek an abortion, particularly low-income women and women of color” (Bryant). Furthermore,  in spite of their appearance of legitimacy, “most CPCs are not licensed and their staff are not licensed medical professions” and thus are not legally bound by privacy provisions nor laws about medical accuracy (Bryant).

While women’s health clinics like Planned Parenthood fight to exist, Crisis Pregnancy Centers are continuing to multiply, with “an estimated 2,300  to 3,500 CPCs currently operating in the US . . . ,[compared to] only 1,800 abortion clinics” (Stacey). While Missouri has only 1 abortion clinic, it has 69 CPCs. Furthermore, these organizations, which are “typically associated with Christian charities,” are tax exempt. Even more frightening, we are paying for these centers as taxpayers. Our home state of Pennsylvania was one of seven states to give “$30 million in federal welfare dollars over four years to these organizations . . . [which] provide flimsy justifications (or none at all) for their use of federal money” (Shakouri).

The comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002) follows Matt Sullivan, a web developer recently dumped by his ex-girlfriend Nicole. He is obsessed with her, and in an attempt to forget her he decides to give up sexual contact for Lent. Upon discovering his abstinence, Matt’s co-workers begin to bet on who can persuade him to have sex. As the movie progresses, Matt meets Erica, the girl of his dreams. She is disappointed by the lack of sexual activity but determined to wait for him. On the fortieth night, recently single Nicole hears of the bet and breaks into Matt’s apartment. While handcuffed to his bed in an attempt to maintain his celibacy, Nicole rapes him while he is asleep. The movie, however, frames Matt’s rape as unfaithfulness. Ashamed, he must win Erica back and prove to her his unfaltering love. 40 Days and 40 Nights is just one of countless examples of the sexual assault of males used for laughs. Now, we must ask ourselves why these jokes continue to pervade pop culture today.

Toxic Masculinity

Deeply embedded in the culture of toxic masculinity is the idea that real men cannot be raped. Real men should be strong enough to fight off rape, and if they don’t, it shouldn’t matter, because they are sex-hungry.  While this is (obviously) not true, it makes it even harder for men to share their experiences with rape.

When Terry Crews came forth as a survivor of sexual assault, he was “publicly mocked by peers for not more forcefully fighting off” the perpetrator (Imperato). When Crews addressed one of these peers, he responded with the following tweet:

I don’t know why actor Terry Crews is so mad at me. He sure didn’t have that same energy when he let that white man grab his crotch.

The Joke, Explained

Pop Culture Detective divides media portrayals of male sexual assault into two categories: male and female perpetration.

When the perpetrators are male, the punchlines of these jokes often center around a man being subordinate to another man, thus playing a feminine role. In our patriarchal culture, “[e]masculation jokes are supposed to be funny . . . because we’re meant to think that there is no greater humiliation for a man than to be treated like a woman” (Pop Culture Detective).  Furthermore, there’s “an underlying homophobia . . . connected to some extreme levels of anxiety around straight male sexuality” (Pop Culture Detective). And, like being perceived as feminine, being perceived as gay is deeply embarrassing for straight men.

When the perpetrators are female, “the jokes are almost always built around a gender-flipped role-reversal and hinges on the perceived social absurdity they’re in” (Pop Culture Detective)

How Does it Relate to Ethical Living?

Not only do jokes surrounding the sexual assault of men put men in danger, they further the idea of women as inferior and gay men as deranged opportunists. Thus, I ask you to look carefully at the media you consume: if someone is being raped, is it really funny?

I was sitting in my friend Chloe’s room, thinking of a topic for my first passion blog. I was uninspired, unsure of what I was going to research, and began to speak about my blogs from last semester. I began to look up the history of unfair labor, and read off the word slavery. She asked me then what has inspired this blog post: “When did slavery start, anyway?” Chloe, here is your answer.

The Beginning of Slavery

Slavery largely began once hunter-gatherer societies transitioned to agrarian societies. This is because agrarian societies permitted social stratification, or hierarchical social rankings, to flourish. Slavery existed in the very first recorded civilizations, including Sumer in Mesopotamia over 6,000 years ago, and it was constituted by three classes of people: debt-slaves (similar to indentured servitude), enslaved prisoners of war, enslaved criminals (a form of punishment). The Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian code of 228 laws from 1754 BCE, references slavery over 50 times.

Eventually, this practice spread northward (to Greece) and eastward (to China and India). During ancient times, slavery was not yet a global business. Instead, “slaves would often seek out a buyer who could use the specific skills of a slave.”

As time progressed into the Middle Ages, slavery changed drastically. The world, and thus the slave trade, became increasingly globalized. Like in ancient times, enslaved persons could belong to several categories: prisoners of war, people enslaved by force (during an invasion), people born of slaves, people convicted of crimes, etc. In Europe, a ban against the selling of Christian slaves to non-Christians meant that many Pagans were exported by Christian merchants to other continents (especially to Muslim countries).

In the late 1300s, during the aftermath of the Black Plague, Europe’s slave trade thrived. People “from all over the continent, the Middle East, and North Africa” were enslaved in response to the labor shortage (Free the Slaves).  Portuguese traders established the Atlantic slave trade in 1444, when they brought the “first large cargo of slaves from West Africa to Europe by sea” (Free the Slaves).

How Does it Connect with Ethical Living? 

The world we live in today is a by-product of slavery, and to truly live ethically we must understand its repercussions. (Not only was slavery incredibly heinous, but) The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade destroyed the population growth of Africa, which in-turn allowed European countries to colonize the continent. These factors ultimately lead to its severe underdevelopment. Even more importantly, slavery still exists today. It is estimated that up to “45 million people [are] trapped in some form of slavery” (End Slavery Now). This doesn’t just include forced labor, but also domestic servitude (employees are coerced into serving in private homes, falsely convinced they can leave), sex trafficking, bonded (or debt) labor, child labor, child soldiering, and forced marriage.

To help stop slavery, here are a few tips:

• Shop Ethically. Many companies pay incredibly low wages for work in unsanitary and unsafe conditions. Sometimes, these companies even use forced labor and child labor. Therefore, I urge you to shop ethically. Companies do not listen to us, they listen to our dollars, and hopefully we can change the world for the better.
• Support Anti-Slavery Organizations. Supporting these organizations may not be feasible for you, but you can volunteer for a local anti-trafficking organization.
• Educate Yourself. One of the greatest tools in this world to fight abuse and corruption is education; unlike many people, we have access to it. Stay informed about unfair practices taking place in the world, and make your voice heard.

 

This semester has certainly been a whirlwind, and so has my blog. I have written about a good mixture of topics under the pretense of “ethical living,” like fair trade, fast fashion, and veganism, and now I plan to add another: universal healthcare. At first glance, this post may not seem to fit under this self-defined umbrella, but I argue if health is a human right, then Medicare for All is an ethical necessity.

The United States boasts some of the most advanced medical treatments in the world: exemplary hospitals, innovative technology, and brilliant minds forging the path to a promising future. However, millions of Americans lack access to these treatments because of their lack of health insurance. Without health insurance, people cannot afford complicated surgeries and expensive medications that can save their lives. But there is a solution: Medicare for All.

Medicare for All would help us in a variety of ways:

1. Medicare for all will help people in need. In 2017, 45% of uninsured adults said they had no insurance because it was too expensive. Meanwhile, a fifth of uninsured adults lacked medical care due to cost (Kaiser Family Foundation). Unfortunately, uninsured people face incredible prices when they seek medical care, which increases the debt of these people who already suffer from poverty. If the United States does not implement Medicare for All, these citizens will continue to be in debt, or worse, in danger.
2. Second, a public health system such as Medicare for All would boost the possibility of a national database of patient and medical history, which would promote medical research and monitor the history of medical service providers. This system would be confidential while respecting the private nature of the relationship between doctor and patient.
3. Medicare for All would reduce costs. A common argument against Medicare for All is that it will increase the national debt, but it is not true: countries with a level of development similar to the United States with public health systems spend 6-8 percent less of their product internal gross on health care (Papanicolas et al.). The nature of the current lucrative system promotes unnecessary examinations and expensive treatments, which are pressured by pharmaceutical and insurance companies. In contrast, Medicare for all is not for profit. It would solve resource-waste found in for-profit systems, because the “marketing” and the administration of plans, such as executive bonuses, do not exist, and the government can negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies.

For a long time, I thought I wanted to work in public health, lobbying against insurance companies and for Medicare for All. While I may not be following that plan, it remains one of my biggest passions — and I think, if anything, that justifies its place on my passion blog.

Thanks for a great semester, blog group!