Should Distracted Truck Driver who killed 3 get the Death Penalty?

Some of you may think: “what the fuck, how does that deserve the death penalty?”. Well, that was my reaction when I was reading the comment section of the article about this incident in one of our Belgian newspapers.

What happened is this : (I found an english article about this even! So I will copy paste the infor from http://www.arabtoday.net/gnhgq-fg-geygef/3-killed-in-belgium-pile-up-truck-driver-detained.html )

Three people were killed Friday in Belgium after a truck slammed into several cars, with its driver later testing positive for drugs, dpa reported.
The victims were a mother and her two children, the Belganews agency reported. Another eight people were injured, including the 33-year-old truck driver.
He was detained by police after a test for drugs in his system came back positive,Belga quoted prosecutors as saying.
The truck drove into the cars around noon (1100 GMT) at an intersection in the town of Denderleeuw, some 20 kilometres outside the Belgian capital Brussels One car was propelled onto another.
A total of eight vehicles were involved in the accident.

So this incident is horrible, and many people respond from their emotions and empathy with the victims. But only a couple of people have shown empathy with the truck driver. That’s right… the one who caused the accident.

The first thing that stood out was “under influence of drugs”. So people here were really quick to judge. The media jumped on it and so did the people. Various critiques were thrown at the drivers head “he should not be allowed to drive ever in his life again”, “I hope he suffers for this for the rest of his life”, and even “he should get the death penalty for this murder”.

Ok, first of all, this man did not “murder” these people intentionally. Second of all, the so called ‘drugs’ in his system were marihuana (which has been known to be way safer and less harmful than alcohol) and he used it a day before the accident (but some remains were still in his system). But as far as I know, this cannot impact driving behavior when it is used the day or days before. Third: he was distracted by his GPS (http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20150103_01456112).

So it was proven he was busy with his GPS at the time of the accident, and the man had been driving since 4 am so could have been tired (which we all known, leads to a way higher % of possibly having an accident or being distracted).

Some people go ahead and blame the drugs, but let me tell you: alcohol is FAR worse and causes far more deaths. + it doesnt mean because he smoked some the day before that this was a cause of the accident. It could just as well been the tiredness and distraction. Such accidents have happened with completely sober drivers.

Ok but that is not really the point. My point is that people shouldn’t just be so quick to judge and call hate on someone. It is extremely horrible what happened, that people got injured and that a mom and her two teenage children died. But this does not justify wishing death upon the driver. Everyone makes mistakes, so did this man and it had grave consequences.

And I also wonder how many of those people yelling hateful things have been behind the wheel tired or under the influence of for example alcohol? Or under the influence of heavy emotions which are shown to cause accident as well. If it was, what would you want and how would you want to be treated?

I am glad we have a justice system and legal system in cases like this, reading the responses of some people… imagine what some would to without this system.

Anyway, my support goes out to ALL the families involved.

Should Pedophiles Be Tortured ?

I am writing this article in a responds to the following picture and message someone posted on Facebook:

There are a lot of people who wish that pedophiles would be dealt with in such a manner – totally dehumanizing and stigmatizing the person with feelings towards those under 18.

But I think we have to take in consideration a big difference: there is a large group of people who feel attraction towards children, that do not act on it. And it is not because they see a child, that this immediately gives them an erection – the same way as a straight guy does not get an erection with every woman that he sees on the street. There is a big group that experiences these emotions and desires, but does not act upon it, because they do not want to do such harm to children.

I have heard people experiencing attraction towards younger children from a young age , so I wondered: is there something biological connected to this urge?

A study was Published in ‘Sexual Abuse: A journal of Research and Treatment” – which suggests that pedophiles have been exposed to pre-birth conditions that affected their physical development.

The study found that pedophilic males were shorter on average than males without a sexual attraction to children. The researchers observed this height difference by analyzing the files of over 1,000 men who were assessed for pedophilia or other sexual disorders between 1995 and 2006 at the Kurt Freund Laboratory in Toronto, Canada.

“This research does not mean that pedophiles are not criminally responsible for their behavior,” said Dr. James Cantor, CAMH Psychologist and lead researcher on the study, “but the discovery of biological markers for pedophilia has important implications for future study and possibly treatment.”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/86364.php

Other new research said that pedophiles are born that way.

Some of this new theory about pedophilia comes from studies on convicted sex offenders.  It was done at the Criminal Center for Mental Health and Addiction in Toronto.

Here are just a few things they found: a large number of pedophiles are left-handed, at least an inch shorter than normal, about ten IQ points below average, and have less white matter in their brains.  Some scientists say those are all biological so pedophilia likely is as well.  Not everyone buys that though, even an actual sex offender.

This new research that calls pedophilia biological, a true sexual preference, says even those who haven’t committed a crime are pedophiles.  That’s between 1 and 5% of all men.
http://articles.kspr.com/2013-05-15/offenders_39289011

Other’s say it is not biological

“There are those that feel a lot of guilt and shame and despair over ways they’ve acted out and don’t want that to be a part of their life.” Christian counselor Josh Spurlock says, in some cases, they don’t have to be– those urges can go away.  That’s because he believes they have nothing to do with biology.

“In our experience with folks it’s been premature or young exposure to illicit pornographic material, early sexual experiences, traumatic sexual experiences at an early age,” he says of people with pedophilic tendencies he’s treated.

The Canadian researchers say just a third of offenders they studied where molested as children.  Pete says he was but doesn’t blame anyone except himself for what he did.  And to ensure he never does it again he continues to go to counseling by choice.
http://articles.kspr.com/2013-05-15/offenders_39289011

Addition:

 This new theory already has a following.  In Germany researchers ran a campaign to encourage men to seek treatment for pedophilia by saying “You are not guilty because of your sexual desire but you are responsible for your sexual behavior.”  More than 1,700 men responded.

There is also a website called “virtuous pedophiles,” an online forum for men who say they have been struggling with a lifelong attraction to children they’ve never acted on.

Talk therapy is still the most common treatment for pedophilia, whatever the cause, but Dr. Shifrin says medication to lower testosterone can also be prescribed to pedophiles.

I agree with the fact that they need treatment. Imagine if you would experience these feelings and do not want to experience them, but they still well up. And ofcourse people who actually have acted upon this urge and have for example raped children, should be locked away. But they also together with that should be treated, and certainly not put on the same line as people who have the desires but never act on them and would never hurt a child

What Do You Think About Fat Shaming?

For those who don’t know what ‘fat shaming’ is:

Explanation 1

A bullying tactic, singling out, or making fun of a fat person, under the guise of helping them realise they need to lose 50 pounds pronto or they’re going to become ill, die prematurely, or be a major burden on the health system, when in actual fact it’s an individual’s bias against people they consider to be unattractive in their immediate social or professional circle.

1.You’re a plus size female out dancing at a club with friends. You notice a small group of guys at the bar staring at you and laughing. Eventually one of them comes over and starts trying to dance behind you, rubbing against your ass, while his friends laugh uncontrollably. When you turn around and tell him to piss off, he laughs in your face and says, “Nah, girl, I’d totally fuck you if I thought I could find your pussy in all that blubber!”
2. You’re a fat person using the elliptical trainer at the gym. A man walks by and gives you an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “GOOD FOR YOU!” he says loudly, a little patronizingly. He has pointed out that seeing people who look like you exercising in public is a strange and unfamiliar occurrance, an idea rooted in the assumption that fat people are uniformly lazy and unhealthy, and you, as an exception, therefore deserve to be recognized and lauded. You feel singled out, othered, and very uncomfortable.
3. A fat guy in a cafeteria is loading his plate with vegetables. The chef gives him a smile, makes a fat shaming comment, “I spose all that green stuff means room for more pudding eh?” as he sniggers expecting him to enjoy the joke that is essentially on him.
The fat guy finishes his meal and goes to leave the cafeteria. Just then a work colleague passes and grabs his male breast. “Caw get a load of these moobs! You lactatin’ or what son?” jests the work colleague with a gaggle of sycophant friends with a collective IQ of 81.

Explanation 2

A term made by obese people to avoid the responsibility to actually take proper care of their body and instead victimize themself by pretending they’re discriminated like an ethnic group. When confronted with someone like that they will ignore all the facts about obesity being unhealthy and pretend it’s some sort of evil socially constructed conspiracy by teh patriarchy

Peter: “You’ve started gaining weight at a worrying level, maybe we could exercise together and take up a sport since you’re always at home”Bianca: “omg stop disciminating me you’re just fat shaming, all my fat is genetics and exercising is just a social construct made by our sexist society, i’m not being brainwashed into ur shauvinistic world”*Bianca then proceeds to eat burgers and refuses to better herself*  http://nl.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fat%20shaming

So as you can see, both of these comments have a different undertone to them, although they can both be considered funny. The first one comes more from the perspective of an overweight person, where fat shaming is seen as a crime against the persons well being. The second explanation is someone who would call out overweight folks for their obesity, and the implications it can have on their health.

Both of them can be right and both of them can be wrong.

First of all, we humans have different shapes and sizes. Someone who is thinner is not necessarily more healthy than someone who is heavier. However, their comes a point when you are too thin or too heavy to be healthy.

Obesity can cause serious health complaints. As your body mass index rises, so does your risk for coronary heat disease.  It can lead to high blood pressure, stroke, cancers, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, obesity hypoventilation syndrome, gallstones, reproductive problems etc… All of these things have a great impact on the person’s and his/her families well being, as well as on the health care system. But, it depends on how big a person is, and someone health status can easily be assessed by a professional.
Because some have taken this way too far, where even normal sized girls are considered to be “fat” or “plus size”, when they can in fact be perfectly healthy with their weight.

Look at the picture on the right for example. What do you think about this girl? Does she look like an overweight or plus size person? She looks pretty normal to me, yet she is a plus size model. Plus size has to be distinguised from obese, since the two are clearly not the same!
The standards being placed on the human body are sometimes insane. Mango has a new plus size line and it starts with the medium size, means if you aren’t stick thin you are a plus size now. and if plus size means obese then obesity starts now with a few pounds more.

So what is the reaction to all this? Obese Barbie. That’s right. It can be considered as a direct consequence of this weight battle.

Obese Barbie is clearly not just a plus size, she is obese with a double chin.

Obesity is not just linked to bad health for fun, it is something that is a proven fact.

Is this allright? Some people have given this doll massive amounts of “likes”, yet what she is supporting is not something that is actually good for the common good. Neither is anorexia Barbie who is unrealistically thin. So if they have anorexic barbie, why not obese barbie? They could have simply created normal Barbie, but dolls often have a tendency of being unrealistic. So within that we can see the responsibility of the parents, the media, family and educational system to teach children to be self-honest towards themselves, and to deal with the images being thrown at them. To become stable human beings not influenced by for example the media to look a certain way, and to not base their well being on the way they look. But that doesn’t make much profit does it? I don’t know, maybe it will!  But currently money is being made from insecurity, and that is something that has to be turned around.

Promoting anorexia is unhealthy, and so is promoting obesity. Obesity is a clear problem, A quarter of adults in England are classed as obese, and a further 41 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women are overweight. Britain is in the middle of an obesity crisis. And so are many other countries. Having supermarkets and streets stashed with junkfood isn’t the smartest option either if you want a healthy population without  thousands of temptations around them. Humans crave sugar and fat, and are often tempted when it is around them. We have a global responsibility within this, for what we allow our society to be and create.

Earlier this month I was taken aback by the women’s minister Jo Swinson saying she wanted to ban the words ‘muffin top’, ‘thunder thighs’ or ‘cankles’. She wants to eradicate so-called ‘fat talk’ by banning the teasing terms women can use against each other, and themselves.

But banning is not the answer. Apart from being wildly impractical – kids will only come up with a new range of terms for fat talking – it doesn’t get to the heart of the problem. Talking and educating, harder though that might be, does.

Fill kids with self esteem and inner confidence to know who they are and to accept that. Don’t fill their bedrooms with fat toys in the hope that message will come through. We’ve got to talk to our kids, rather than ignore the issue.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10536920/Fat-Barbies-Its-not-OK-to-be-obese.-Why-cant-we-accept-this-Skirting-the-Issue.html

Fat shaming in itself, is also NEVER acceptable. To degrade a human being, call them names etc… tells more about who you allow yourself to be, than about the other person. It is never acceptable to do such things to another human being, no matter their size. You still have the responsibility towards yourself, and which person you allow yourself to be.  You also do not know what someone is going through, what happened in their life, what their inner struggle may be.

manda Sidwell Smith spent years of her life being insulted about her weight. The words were so harsh and so consistent that she internalized them and felt “less than human.” The pain was so great that she decided to change her body through cosmetic surgery, which created a domino effect with disastrous results. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/15/fat-shaming-nearly-killed-me_n_4603205.html

Instead of shaming and name calling, we should empower and support each other to do what is best for ourselves and the common good, together with taking responsibility for the system we allow to exist around us.

http://www.livingincome.me

Sources:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/risks.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10536920/Fat-Barbies-Its-not-OK-to-be-obese.-Why-cant-we-accept-this-Skirting-the-Issue.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/15/fat-shaming-nearly-killed-me_n_4603205.html

Tara Reid Looking Super Skinny in a Bikini

On the website skinnyvscurvy.com they featured this “article” about Tara Reid in her bikini, going:

“38 year-old Tara Reid recently posted a few bikini pictures on Twitter, where the blonde star reveals an ultra thin frame.”

That’s it…. really.
Many of the articles are simply pictures to drive traffic to their website, and then there is room beneath for users to comment, saying how she “looks like a deflated doll” , “awful” etc.

So based on the person and pictures in question, the responses will vary amongs the commenters. If the person looks hot in them, they will praise. If the person looks too skinny or fat, they often result in insults. Tara her picture presentation is linked by many commenters to being unhealthy.

Some examples:

“She looks awful. But she has not looked too good since about 2004 with her plastic surgery and weight loss. Too bad, she was a pretty young woman at one point.”

“Looks unnatural and unhealthy. I hope she is okay….
And what have some woman with wanting to be ultra skinny and having big boobs ?! (other examples: Nicole Richie and Angelina Jolie – although I love both those woman and I’m jealous of their facial beauty)”

“it doenst look right.her head doesnt fit to the body.i think you can see if its not natural.and please dont come with”maybe shes natural skinny” .i hope shes gonna be healtyh some day”

I understand the observation, and maybe they are right. But…

What I want to point attention towards is the fact that magazines, blogs, papers … often place pictures of these celebrities online or printed, with praise about their figure or a very superficial article. Paying no attention to the person behind it, and for example if they may be having body issues and/or an eating disorder. So one may in fact be praised for starving themselves or binge purging. And someone who will look “beautiful” to the eye of many, may in fact be more unhealthy than someone who look less pretty.

It is also no free room to just spout whatever we think about a person, to start to gossip  in the comment section and call people all kinds of names. Sometimes we feel like we are practicing our free speech, but forget to realize how we are socialized in a certain environment and adopt many things from our environment. So  in order to really find out if our speech is so “free” as we claim it is, we should not just automatically say what pops up in our brains at all times, but think about it and realize the effects we have with our words and if it is something we want to support in this world. In which way is calling people a “beached whale” or “inflated doll” in any way supportive? And I have read nastier things than that. So it is good to place yourself in the shoes of another, and question your own behavior. To not just accept whatever from yourself, but also be critical towards your own doing.

The media has a responsibility as well. Now they can make money out off this, but I don’t think it should be forever allowed. If an outer-space civilization would find us, it wouldn’t be one of the examples I would give about “what we do on earth or who we are as humans” (just giving a crazy example here to make my point). It would be honest though, since it shows a big part of who many humans are. And in a system where you can make profit out of any demand, these things spawn up…

Little Girl Shaves Head in Act of Solidarity and Gets Kicked Out of School

As a gesture of solidarity, a little girl from Grand Junction shaved her head for her friend who has cancer, 11-year-old Delaney Clements. What happened next: she got kicked out of school because it ‘violated the dress code policy’.

What a load of shit. As if a hairstyle defines a person, as if it is ‘less’ than having hair on your head. It is not going to make her dumber or cause the school to set fire. In fact it is probably showing the strenght of her character. A school should praise this, not punish it. I guess they are more focussed on their students to fit in an follow their little rules, than encouraging positive characteristics in people which not necessarily fit in their school policy.

“It felt like the right thing to do,” Kamryn Renfro said.

Delaney loved what her friend did.

“It made me feel very special and that I’m not alone,” she said.

That school is way too fixed on their set rules, creating a very strict and limiting environment. If you violate a rule then your kicked out, and no one even looks at the starting point. The rule is the law without exceptions. And this is very dangerous because people have various motives for doing what they do. And what this girl did should not be punished.

“Kamryn’s mother tells 9NEWS that the school headmaster told her Kamryn will be allowed to return to school Tuesday.The school’s board of directors plans to meet Tuesday evening to discuss this situation and the policy.”

Good! real good.
If not, that principal should be fired and the policy re-written.

Source: http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/weird/2014/03/25/girl-shaves-head-kicked-out-of-school/6864779/

Sexualization of Children

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Living income: http://www.livingincome.me

video I mentioned from MrRepzion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiuDhlKPheQ&list=LLX1gHn5Vjzr0C6CFCPCYu_A&feature=mh_lolz

How to Silence Students: Threaten Them With Spoilers of Game of Thrones

Hilarious isn’t it! This one made me laugh out loud when I found it on facebook. So as a teacher you can benefit from being up-to-date with all recent series your students watch.
This strategy is fast and effective, but brings me to the topic of children having to be quiet in class.

There is a large difference between schools and their infrastructure, teachers, teaching method etc… this all has an influence on childrens behavior. I think it is especially important for children to be more activly engaged in class, and having an exciting and creative environment.

Imagine having to spend your days sitting in this classroom for hours :

Or spending your time in this classroom :

In the first one there may be a bigger emphasis on listening, obeying, independence , personal achievement etc…
In the second the emphasis seems to be on creativity, openness, teamwork, communication …

So the making of the system starts in the classroom, by what we teach our children and how we teach them. Do we teach them to sit quietly and listen the entire time, or do we teach them that to communicate and also bring in their own point of view. Of course, a certain level of respect for the teacher is necessary. And explaining to the children why it is important to be quiet at certain times, is necessary. Because a child adopts things from his or her parents, friends, media and other factors, and in that way the child may for example talk in class as a form of ‘trying to be cool’ for the other students. So instead of yelling or punishing, it will be beneficial to have class discussions about behavior like that, without name calling or making it personal. But to keep it general so that everyone learns to see through such behavior. Because someone who tries to be cool, and others respond positively to it, just enhances that behavior. But when others learn to see through it, they may actually point it out to that student when it happens and in fact help him/her with self-realization.

Let’s look at science as well.
Some studies have for example shown that boys often have a lot of trouble sitting still for long periods of time, because their physical bodies cannot sit still for that long. And others have shown how students learn best, like for example being engaged in activities. When I speak for myself, I can say that I learn best when I can DO what I am learning. This tends to ‘stick’ in my brain and gets clearer much faster than if you just hand me a text book or speak theory to me.

There are significant differences in the ways girls and boys learn, differences which are more substantial than age differences in many ways. In other words, a 7-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy differ, on average, on parameters such as “How long can you sit still, be quiet, and pay attention?” Those differences between a same-age girl and same-age boy are larger than differences between, say, a 7-year-old girl and a 9-year-old girl. Most American schools segregate kids on the basis of age differences: they put 7-year-olds in one classroom and 9-year-olds in another classroom. And yet, on some parameters – such as how long a child can sit still, be quiet, and pay attention – the sex differences (e.g. between the average 7-year-old girl and the average 7-year-old boy) are larger than the age differences (e.g. between the average 7-year-old girl and the average 9-year-old girl).

Educational psychologists have found fundamental differences in the factors motivating girls vs. factors motivating boys. Researchers have consistently found that “girls are more concerned than boys are with pleasing adults, such as parents and teachers” (Pomerantz, Altermatt, & Saxon, 2002, p. 397). Most boys, on the other hand, will be less motivated to study unless the material itself interests them.

Best practices for teaching math differ significantly for girls and boys – particularly in arithmetic, algebra, and number theory. With boys, you can stimulate their interest by focussing on the properties of numbers per se. With girls, you want to tie what you’re teaching into the real world. Keep it real and keep it relevant.

http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-learning.htm

http://brittanyfichterwrites.com/boys-in-the-classroom/