Counterintuitive Spring 2023

We Need To Talk About It

Everyone perpetuates rape culture. Females, males, mothers, fathers, students, teachers. It’s not their fault; it’s just the way of life in America. They contribute to the culture, which is an abomination that cascades. The first assault is physical: the violation of a fellow human’s body. The second assault is psychological: the blaming and shaming of the victim while the assailant goes free. The third is cultural: the feeling in our society that men are entitled to women’s bodies who withhold them at their own cost. The fourth is sociological: the “experts” in the field—victims with experience that could change our misguided thinking—are so traumatized by their experience, and so marginalized by our attitudes toward them, that they are too apprehensive to share their wisdom. These four separate assaults form rape culture, which is so pervasive in our environment that it seems normal. To fix this error made by history, we need to talk bravely about rape while on the victims’ side. Stubborn, closed-minded individuals will resist this conversation–as will some traumatized victims–but their reluctance stands between our current national psychosis and victims’ rights. We’ll never prevent people from becoming rapists if we refuse to talk about the problem.

To begin the discussion, we must fully comprehend what types of teachings rape culture implements. One type relates to the psychological assault: when outsiders side with the accused instead of the victim. Here, the victim is under scrutiny and is automatically presumed as a liar. This denial is a type of teaching that is taught and learned at a young age and throughout development. Examples in the media, gender norms and gender stereotypes teach girls to be ladylike and reserved, while boys are taught to be aggressive and are encouraged with heterosexuality. Kate Harding, when she says, “Boys are taught that sex is their right – it’s on demand, basically – and that girls will resist, and their job is to overcome that resistance. Instead of teaching them about respecting girls as fellow human beings, they’re taught that girls are sexual organs,” supports this idea. Girls aren’t encouraged to speak up for what they want, and when they do, it’s seen as a joke or a game. In this game, the perpetrators of rape are the winners, and the victims are the losers. This relates to the cultural assault that is a part of rape culture. Of course, not all rapists are men; even female rapists are held at a higher stance than their victims. Either way, the groundwork that encourages aggression in boys and reluctance in girls is the basis of rape culture. The foundation that is taught produces numerous ways of denying justice for victims and assailants.

When the victim of a crime is held accountable in some way, shape or form, he or she is the result of victim blaming. In contexts of rape culture, this is the psychological assault: victim blaming may include accusations that the victim was being provocative or suggestive, thus she was asking to be raped. Slut shaming is essentially the same thing. If someone were to tell a victim that because of the way she dressed, she was asking to get raped, he or she is slut shaming her based on her appearance. These terms make up the core of rape culture, and it influences rape victims to suffer in silence.

Many rape victims do not report their rape because they are fearful of not being believed by their friends and the police. In fact, the victim might not even know for sure if she was actually raped and may blame herself for what happened. This is detrimental to the victim’s well-being, and it all contributes to rape culture. Take Kali Rogers’ story, for example. She was raped by her close friend. They had been drinking and smoking that night, and he offered for her to sleep in his bed instead of on his couch. She agreed to sleep in his bed, but never consented to have sex. She says, “It was my fault, right? I’d had too much to drink, I accepted that joint, I agreed to stay at his apartment! I brought this on myself. Or at least, that’s what I made myself believe. I wasn’t even sure you could consider the act ‘sexual assault.’ His word against mine, and we all know how that would play out given my previous reputation and my actions that night.” She never went to the police because she knew her story wouldn’t stand, and even though she said “no,” she still felt guilty. When she says, “we all know how that would play out,” she reveals the issues involved in the consequences of reporting a rape that are universally known. People are raped because of what they are taught throughout their life; victims of rape have to choose between suffering in silence or exposing their trauma to disbelievers, and the rapist will continue on with their life.

Victim blaming is the beginning of a domino effect. First, when rape victims are blamed, shamed or turned away by their peers, family, police or their rapist after confronting their tragedy, they are hesitant to file a report and go through with a trial with trying their rapist. This resistance then causes the rapist to get away with the rape, and more people think that the consequences for rape are morphed. They may face legal punishment but are still supported by their community, or they may not even be sentenced at all. Either way, the blaming and absence of justice leaves victims battered and often unable to heal emotionally.

The cause of rapists’ success is essentially rooted in victim blaming. It has been this way since around 1670 when the English judge Sir Matthew Hale wrote that husbands cannot be guilty of rape because through their “matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract.” Therefore, the wife is at fault because her husband owns her right to want to have sex. So, a woman’s husband got away with raping her because she was the one who gave him her rights.

Today, martial rape is illegal in all 50 of America, but it still happens. Mandy Boardman wrote about her nightmare of being raped by her own husband. She explained that he would drug her with Ambien and/or Xanax without her knowledge or consent, and would then rape her. She found video on his phone as proof. After divorcing him, Boardman felt the need to report her ex-husband. In court, he was found to be guilty of six felonies, but he was not sentenced to serve his punishment in prison. Instead, he was sentenced to live his life under house arrest in his own home. Boardman explains that the judge actually said, “that my ex may have been a crappy husband, but he was a good father and that I should ‘forgive him.’” This judge’s actions insulted Boardman, as well as shamed her. No one would tell a victim of a robbery to “forgive” the criminal who stole his or her belongings. A victim of robbery once trusted that his or her belongings were safe. Boardman had once trusted her husband not to drug and rape her. It is a tragedy that a judge, someone in extreme authority, would feel it was okay to explicitly shame a victim of rape into believing forgiveness of her assailant was due, simply because he was once her husband. The reality of Boardman’s relationship with her attacker makes it much more horrifying, and no measure of forgiveness should ever be granted.

The severity of victim blaming has indeed escalated and progressed over the years. There are different ways to blame a victim, like the aforementioned slut shaming. A case of slut shaming was seen online after three teenage boys raped a 12-year-old girl at gunpoint in Chicago in December 2012. When it was revealed that the rapists were going to be tried as adults, people felt the need to take to social media to share their opinions on the situation. People slut shamed the young girl by saying horrible things like: “just a loose drunk slut,” “Something she never should have done. A 12 year old girl shouldn’t be associating with 16 year old teenage boy. Some girls are advanced at this age and she should have known what he wanted her to do when he invited her to his home. No doubt she didn’t expect his friends to be there. I hope she be ok and learn from this bad experience,” and “SHOULD BE AWARE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS regardless how drunk u are.” These people sincerely believe that this young girl is at fault for being raped because of her decisions and behavior. These illogical claims made to shame the young girl teach her that this tragedy is her fault. Even though she is not old enough to consent and even though she was raped at gunpoint, she is guilty. This shaming will continue.Others who read the claims will realize that the perpetrators receive the support while the victim is condemned.

Some may bring up the idea that the comments, while absurd, offer a lesson to other girls. The slut shaming comments would implicitly tell others to take more precaution so they don’t experience the same thing the victim did. The fact of the matter is, however, no one should have to take “more” precaution. A 12-year-old girl should be able to hang out with boys without having to worry about being forced to have sex with a gun pointed at her. A woman should be able to dress up and get a drink at a bar without being harassed by others. Women shouldn’t have to go to great lengths to keep themselves safe, contrary to what they are taught throughout our lives. The buddy system, going to the bathroom in groups, not wearing headphones while walking home at night, are a few examples of ways women are already trying to keep themselves safe. What else are they supposed to do? The answer relies on the participation of the other gender that is involved with the problem. Simply put, men should be taught to respect boundaries and privacy. Unfortunately, that seems too difficult for people to comprehend, thus there are numerous accounts where women are taken advantage of. Therefore, the domino effect adds fuel to the rape culture fire: victims are blamed, rapists are endorsed in some aspect of society, and victims are left in the dust without closure, leaving future victims hesitant to go through with legal actions of their own.

Not all the types of victim blaming are easy to identify, either. An example of this is a monologue about a man who was raped by his female teacher when he was a child. He says, “All the guys would laugh at me about it, calling me faggot for not enjoying it and I was like, ‘psych, I totally did enjoy it.’ Then they high-fived me and told me I was cool and that Ms. Tupper was hot and they were jealous.” Here, the perpetrators of the blaming are “all the guys.” They shamed him because he did not find being molested as a pleasurable experience. This caused him, as the victim, to adapt to their ideals by not taking his rape seriously. Since he did not accept this as a traumatic experience, he is unable to emotionally heal. He proves this by saying, “It was the most popular I’d been in my whole life. It was the happiest I’ve ever been. And I wasn’t happy, but sometimes as a guy, if you want to fit in you have to hide your pain and humor is a great way of doing that and that’s why I sincerely think that rape is hilarious. Because I have to.” He does not confront the candidness of what happened to him in order to prevent the weight of the tragedy from tearing him apart. Instead, he treats it like a joke because that is what he was shamed to do. So the domino effect prevails. The rape culture cycle continues because sincere justice is not served, and more victims fall into the abyss of rape culture and suffer silently. Since they are constantly suffering from some type of assault by their rapist, comments by outsiders, or verdicts from a judge, they are unable to fully heal emotionally. It then becomes difficult to generate discussion of rape culture, which perpetuates the cycle. The lack of their motivation to create a discussion is detrimental to stopping the cycle.

Falsely reported rapes are, unfortunately, a reality that is a part of rape culture. However, only 2 to 8 percent of rapes that are reported are false; a statistic that is little known to the public. Of those that know this statistic, many do not believe it is true and insist that far more rapes are falsely reported. Part of this thinking is the dilemma of recanting a rape report. When someone reports a rape and later recants it, he or she is often assumed to have falsely reported the rape, and is punished. The perceived liar is punished because he or she no longer wants to go through with the process, most likely in fear of losing and being exposed. In reality, he or she is telling the truth and is just giving up the fight. This may be because the victim doesn’t want to subject his or her life to judgment by outsiders. These outsiders include police officers that are investigating the crime reported. When investigating a rape report, it is common for officers’ brutal judgment to further contribute to flawed reports. Often times, when victims report a rape to the police they are quickly questioned without sensitivity and sympathy. The brash attitudes of the interviewers may pressure the victims into saying things that can be misconstrued, forcing them to appear as though they are lying.

Sara Reedy’s experience symbolizes the consequences of the harshness investigators often express toward victims. The authorities punished Reedy after she was attacked, even though she was completely innocent. In July of 2004, Reedy was sexually assaulted at gunpoint while she was working at a local petrol station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The attacker stole money from the cash register, forced himself on her, and then left.

After being assaulted, Reedy contacted the police, wrongly thinking they would be of help. A detective questioned Reedy where she was being treated after the attack. She wasn’t the picture perfect victim, so the detective was quick to make judgments. Instead of taking time to sympathize and hear Reedy out, the detective discredited her and accused her of stealing the money and inventing the story as a cover-up, despite the incriminating evidence that was found at the scene of the crime. In fact, when he first interviewed her, the detective asked Reedy how often she “used dope” and where the stolen money was, insinuating that she was at fault for the robbery. Since they believed Reedy was lying, the police charged her with theft and filing a false report. The officers’ unsympathetic attitudes and insensitivity sent Reedy to jail.

A year later, Reedy’s attacker struck again. Fortunately he was caught, and he subsequently admitted to assaulting Reedy. The police officers’ ignorance is a part of rape culture. Their distrust in Reedy stems from what they were taught about boys and girls growing up. Women are supposed to be quiet and reserved. Reedy wasn’t being quiet or reserved. She was speaking out, and the investigating officer disrespected her for doing so, whether it was an unconscious decision or not. The officers acted as close-minded disbelievers in this tragic situation, and it cost major losses and consequences for all.

In another tragedy, an innocent young woman was punished and humiliated because of the lack of sensitivity and understanding in investigating police officers. In August 2008, the 18-year-old woman was attacked in her apartment that was part of an at-risk youth program in Lynnwood, Washington. The attacker broke into her apartment, gagged her, used shoelaces to bind her hands together, and raped her. All of the evidence was left at the scene: the shoelace, the gag, and even the sheets of the woman’s bed. In addition, there were injuries to her wrists and genitals.

The young woman mistakenly believed that reporting her rape to the police was a good idea. She explained that detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. Jeff Mason didn’t believe her story. Instead the victim felt they were compelling her to recant her story. Again, the investigators were quick to judge the woman without sympathy. The woman felt as though she was in the wrong, and that she had no choice but to follow the instruction from the authorities to recant her report. Even though she knew what happened and had the physical trauma to prove it, she was wrongly instructed to pretend like the nightmare never happened. Following these instructions resulted in being fined $500 and charged with filing a false report.

After listening to the authorities’ insensitive instructions, the innocent woman faced unfair consequences. Based on the report, the young woman was portraying signs that she was lying, like not looking the police officer in the eye and “inappropriate” body language. In reality, the woman was just showing signs of traumatization. She was gagged and raped by a man; it’s very likely she may have felt uncomfortable opening up to a man in authority, like a police officer. Especially since that man in authority was showing signs of disbelief and was putting “words in her mouth.”

Two and a half years later, a man was arrested in Colorado for several rapes when police found pictures of the Lynnwood woman, as well as her ID card in his possession. He was found guilty and is serving a 327-year sentence. In order to find the young woman’s horrible experience true, her attacker had to strike again. The cultural assault is seen in this example, as well. The victim felt pressured into being quiet, ladylike and respectful to her male aggressive figures because when she spoke up for what she wanted, it was seen as a lie or a joke. Because the victim’s actions were not taken seriously, many people faced consequences that could have been avoided had the investigators opened their minds to a discussion instead of an interrogation.

There is not one specific person at fault for the creation of rape culture, and unfortunately, there is no easy way to destroy it. However, the acknowledgement of its existence is a start, and a discussion of what makes it prevail will begin to improve ideals, protect victims’ rights, and prevent people from becoming rapists. It is a difficult feat for individuals who have been traumatized by rape culture to join this conversation, especially when they are up against authoritative disbelievers. But to deny the conversation would deny a solution, and a solution is sorely needed.

Works Cited

Kelley, Lauren. “America Has a Rape Problem – And Kate Harding Wants to Fix It.” Rolling Stone. 24 August 2015. Web. 26 October 2015.

Rogers, Kali. “I Survived Date Rape.” Her Story. 28 June 2015. Web. 12 November 2015.

Eichelberger, Erica. “Men Defining Rape: A History.” Mother Jones. 27 August 2012. Web. 2 November 2015.

“A Guy Talks About Rape From A Man’s Perspective. (And It’s Not What You Think, Either.)” Upworthy. 14 April 2014. Web. 2 November 2015.

Turner, Natasha. “Rape-splaining: 10 Examples of Victim Blaming.” Ms. Magazine. 28 May 2013. Web. 2 November 2015.

Boardman, Mandy. “My Husband Raped Me.” Time. 29 July 2015. Web. 17 November 2015.

Matchar, Emily. “’Men’s Rights’ Activists Are Trying to Redefine the Meaning of Rape.”New Republic. 26 February 2014. Web. 9 November 2015.

Hallett, Stephanie. “Do Women Lie About Rape?” Ms. Magazine. 7 April 2011. Web. 9 November 2015.

Walters, Joanne. “Sara Reedy, the rape victim accused of lying and jailed by US police, wins $1.5m in payout.” The Guardian. 15 December 2012. Web. 9 November 2015.

Carter, Mike. “Woman sues after Lynnwood police didn’t believe she was raped.” The Seattle Times. 12 June 2013. Web. 9 November 2015.

Don’t Fear Fear

Getting gutted, mutilated, and devoured by wild animals is not the most common (or ideal) cause of death these days, but it once was. As a result of this, we humans have evolved a very strong sense of fear, but we no longer utilize it; and many think being afraid is something best avoided. Fear, however, is not a heinous or poisonous thing. Rather it is a super-tool that can now, due to the much more peaceful lifestyle we have, be totally exploited as a means to achieving a higher quality of life. (Werner, Evolutionary Psychology)

Fear cannot be avoided. An individual may shelter him/herself, or have the oppressive tendency to shelter another, but no matter how much effort one puts into avoiding dangerous and stressful situations, they cannot ever achieve a fully-fear-free life. To assume so is as ignorant as it is arrogant. Fear isn’t cigarettes, it isn’t an external poison that one can choose not to consume. Fear, unlike the tar our lungs, is produced internally and it always has been. Well, “always” in this sense, only dates back to about 200,000 years ago. This was when our ancestors were finishing up evolving into a species in which fear, stress, and anxiety became a primary part of its nature. It is only starting at about 8000 B.C.E where humanity began to dig into agriculture and domestication of animals and began to settle down. This turning point was only 10015 years ago which means we’ve only been the slightest bit civilized for only a whopping 5% of the 200,000 years our species has been a fearful one. The other 95% of the time was spent absolutely roughing it and living dangerously on the edge; constantly on the move and fighting to survive. Sharp fear reflexes were necessary in order for our species to make it far enough to settle down. Our great x 10^? grandparents and their parents before them, were some tough and stressed out motherfuckers and we inherited their trigger sensitive physiology.  We all did. This means that no matter what we do or who we are there are things that, without thought or reason, will always trigger a stress response (and sometimes it is to an extreme of which could make for a pathological fear, but that is another subject) it is in our genes; spiders, the dark, heights, noises, lightening are some simple ones. (10 Oldest Civilizations)

Well, since fear is illogical and inescapable, why add to it? Trying to run from it doesn’t make any sense, its a part of us, and living in denial of it or repressing it will only cause mental illness. So the only logical thing left to do is embrace it. If embracing it sounds scary than we have some work to do…

We as a species, as a result of our 200,000 years of training have a seriously, deviously, sharp set of skills and it is a damn shame to let them go to waste. Imagine how disappointing it is if a musical virtuoso who has been composing all of her life decided that music was best to be avoided. That’s heartbreaking that she would just abandon her skills and talents after she put so many years of hard work into it. This is how most people treat their fear reflexes; that, or they just dabble in them on the side.

Most of the fear our ancestors felt was out of fear of physical harm and while there are still some examples of this in our modern setting, it is on a drastically smaller scale and is only typically applied when traffic or a poverty stricken neighborhood is involved. We (meaning, most westerners) live in a society now where we no longer need to worry about getting mauled by sabretooths and dying of starvation. Hell, we don’t even need to worry about most of the diseases that have plagued and killed many of our kind before us. Basically all we have to do to avoid physical harm is watch where we are going. This is easy and simple and not enough to fully satisfy our repressed fear reflexes that are just itching to be used.

People deny fear because they misunderstand it. They view is as something that causes mental trauma and do not welcome it. It is true that fear can lead to a lot of mental, and then physical, adverse conditions, but that is only after experiencing too much of it too consistently over too long of a period of time. Experiencing fear, or more preferably horror or thrill (safe fear, which will be addressed later) actually is very healthy. One could argue “but how can it be healthy if too much of it can be so harmful?” and simply, the response to that is, there is nothing that can’t be over-consumed, no matter how good it is. Hell, even drinking too much water will kill someone… and drinking water, just like fear, is natural and needed to survive.

Fear, as we know, keeps us alive physically, but, in our modern society, fear also keeps us alive socially. Without understanding fear, without being familiar with it and having our senses honed, nothing would hold us back from telling our boss to go fuck himself (for example).

In fact, another healthy social byproduct of fear is confidence. Confidence is essential for achieving marvelous things, so how is it built? Through fear. (Fear leads to success)

Take a single person who is out on the town and happens to stumble upon a crush in an unfamiliar bar. Instantly the individual will become fearful of many things, being seen by the person, how to behave, and it’s all amplified by the unfamiliarity of the environment. People who are in the delusion that fear should be suppressed, avoided and not exercised will sit in their seat and try their best to ignore it or they would even go so far as to leave; but others instead who understand and embrace fear will (regardless of their sex/gender) pick up their balls and go make a move. So this person in this bar takes the risk, and pulls it off, thus conquering the fear. No longer is this individual a victim to the fear, it is no longer capable of festering deep inside and growing into a mental illness. It is over and done with and now a possibility of something wonderful has been gained. Embracing fear is confidence. It could have been that the move was made out of the fear of the crush getting away and now that individual no longer needs to wonder about the outcome. Fear is what fueled the decision to make the move and because this a more confident person was born.

Without fear there are no risks. When we face our fears and take risks we live and we learn how to better equip ourselves for life’s challenges. A confident person is someone who has taken risks and either failed or succeeded but now have the tools to take on whatever lies ahead because of it.

View fear as a a sort of bitter tasting medicine that could lead to a well balanced human mind and higher quality of life. However, there are those who suffer from mental or emotional conditions which require that stress is to be avoided. Consuming fear as part of their diet may be rather difficult, if not an impossibility.

The fear of rejection. The fear of change. These things and more are examples of fear that may but smaller, or larger depending on the individual, and can be very very difficult for some to deal with; but these are examples of fear that should still be dealt with regardless in order to ensure a better quality of life. Otherwise how can a benefit such as confidence be gained? If someone is prescribed to avoid stress; that person is being sentenced to avoid what life offers.

It is good to experience fear regularly so that individuals know how to handle it when the time comes and to discover just how much of it they are personally able to handle. So how can we actively pursue fear to ensure we are getting our daily dose? How can we learn our limits on our free time? The horror medium is an answer. Consuming horror is something that can, among other amazing things (such as raising ones immune system livingflow.net), act as, a sort of, mental exercise and can lead to a better healthier state of mind. (Perhaps the horror medium is something that can be used as a gateway for people who can’t handle the stress of life; to start building up to it by handling fictional challenges. Maybe its exactly what they need. But, then again, I am not a psychologist.)

As previously established fear is not a reaction to any logical thought process. Fear is a sense all its own that kicks in in response to certain triggers without any preemptive reasoning. This is what allows horror to work. When someone is watching a horror movie, or playing a horror game, usually a conscious decision was made to consume that medium in the first place. The individual knows its not real, that it’s just a product of someone else’s imagination and that there is no way for it to harm them. However, this participant still feels fear. This is an example of how deeply seeded the fear reflexes are and no amount of logic can keep them from kicking in and there is no way to repress them. The only option is to go with it. That’t was 200,000 years of development of an involuntary response will do. Therefore horror is a safe, surefire way to explore and exercise and tune fear reflexes without having to take risks. It is great practice for developing ones mind in the long run and there are even some short term, immediate benefits as well such as pleasure, euphoria, entertainment and relief. (6 health benefits of horror films)

So, do not be afraid; start being afraid.

Work Cited

Werner, Maximillian. “Why Do We Crave Horror? Evolutionary Psychology and Viewer Response to Horror Films – Bright Lights Film Journal.” Bright Lights Film Journal. 30 Apr. 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

“Does Watching Horror Movies Strengthen Your Immune System?”LivingFlow. 19 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

“8 Reasons Why Fear Is Good for You – Existing2Living.” Existing2Living. 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Jourdan, Thea. “Can Fear Be Good for Your Health?” Netdoctor. 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Audhikari, Saugat. “10 Oldest Ancient Civilizations Ever Existed.”AncientHistoryLists. 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Rivera, Ryan. “6 Health Benefits of Watching Horror Movies – Jarvis City.”Jarvis City. 21 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Wooden Shields

When presidential corruption surpasses all the limits and the entire nation suffers because of unfair one-sided laws and low salaries, every next decision made by the president can be turned into provocation against the society and cause big revolutionary movement. After pilfering as much as he could from the country’s coffers, Viktor Yanukovich declined to join the European Union. The agreement meant a lot for the country’s economics progress and for the further improving relationship and becoming a part of the EU. Most of the civilized Ukrainian community was looking forward to signing  the agreement that would later raise Ukrainian economics to European level without offending country’s uniqueness. Instead, the president made an announcement about his decision to start working closer with Russia. The country, well-known for it’s imperialistic tendencies , subordinating all smaller and weaker countries and treating those just as inferior provision providers, couldn’t possibly satisfy the needs and the pride of Ukrainian nation.  That’s when the history of Ukrainian 2014 revolution started, more commonly known here as Euromaidan.

Yanukovich had a questionable reputation way before his first appearance on the presidential election in 2005.  At his young age he was convicted twice for the theft and the infliction of bodily harm. These facts didn’t stay unnoticed by the journalists of Ukrainian truth, and shortly it became generally known. Regardless of the negative attitude to Yanukovich, he managed to win the election with a small lead. It caused a national indignation and Orange Revolution because people believed that it was an obvious cheating. The Supreme Court agreed to hold the third round of the election, which Yanukovich lost to his opponent Viktor Ushchenko.

However, once it was time for new election 4 years later, Yanukovich took the presidential seat without resistance. It became possible for him, because the high expectations of the people that were supporting Ushchenko did not turn into reality, and there was no new promising candidate, so many of them were just generally tired and disappointed. Once Yanukovich became a president he cleared his criminal history with the help of a court hearing, which recognized his convictions illegal.

For the next few years, bit by bit, he was taking advantage of his position by enriching himself in every possible way. For example, almost every month his security cortege would get brand new models of Mercedes vehicles. While hundreds thousands of dollars were spent just on the presidential transportation, all the previous models would always mysteriously disappear. In the year 2012 Yanukovich ranked 4th in the world on the list of  “presidential expenses – average income” statistics.

Because his presidential term was coming to the end in 2014, Yanukovich was worried about keeping his position more than anything. Good relationship with Russia and applying some of Russian strategies would help him a lot. Before the summit, according to the government portal, prime-minister of Ukraine, Mykola Azarov insisted on the participation of Russia in consultations, so Russian side would make sure that agreements satisfy all Ukrainian and Russian needs. Also, Ukraine and Russia were mentioned as one side of participants. Because Russia was not supporting “European” future of Ukraine, and offered Yanukovich some “great” deals, the president failed to sign papers with EU.

The morning after the summit, on November 29, 2013 pro-government political party gathered people on the European square in Kiev, to show the support to the president; everyone was told that they will get paid 200 hryvnas for coming. Well-taught cameramen were recording cheerful happy people, taking the shots that would make the crowd seem bigger, and streaming on many leading TV channels. The event was against moral principles of many Ukrainians, but an “itch for money” made many seekers for easy profits show up and actually support the real corruption. Some of the people, from Eastern part of Ukraine mostly, were blindly supporting Yanukovich for many years, even after he failed to improve the quality of life and imposed new taxes, making it even harder for the people with low income.

At the same day after summit thousands of young people  followed a reputable journalist’s Mustafa Nayem’s call – via social media, students decided to meet in the center of the city, on the Independence Square and stay for as long as necessary for peaceful protests until president changes his mind. The amount of protesters was pretty impressive and noticeable for local citizens, however, it was barely mentioned during the news and considered as insignificant event. According to honorable Ukrainian businessman and politician,  Petro Poroshenko, Many Ukrainians preferred to build relationship with EU rather than with Russia, because many people’s mentality in Russia “got stacked” in the years of Soviet Union while most of Ukrainians have already moved on, so almost everyone in the country was disappointed. However, the situation wasn’t anywhere close to critical or unexpected, so just young adults were willing to fight for changes, while most of elderly people, and middle-aged adults weren’t motivated enough to make any actual moves against the government.

By the late night time, because of multiple reasons, like cold and studying, many of them left for the night,  with intention to come the next day. By the morning, around 500 harmless unarmed students that were still standing near the Independence Monument were attacked. At 4.30 am special police forces called “Berkut”,without any warnings started beating up everyone with batons, and dragging whoever they could catch to the police cars. At the same time, communal vehicles appeared and workers started cleaning up the square and preparing foundation for the Christmas tree like nothing had happened.

Ukrainians woke up and found out about the terrible night accident, and it changed the attitude of thousands and gave a life to new revolution. The night incident galvanized the country, a result the president was not expecting. All those radically minded people  of all ages, started gathering on Myhaylivskiy square and by night all the crowd moved back to the Independence square and increased to almost 100 thousand people that wanted Yanukovich  give up the presidency and demanding drastic changes in the government and laws. For the next 2 months revolutionaries occupied the center of the city, while well-paid special forces were trying to disorganize and weaken the revolution.

On December 8th presidential party organized protests against the revolution by bringing people from mostly Eastern part of Ukraine, were president had most of proponents, and “buying” them by promising good money for a small favor – supporting the president. On Sunday almost half of the million of people joined the national viche (gathering of community members to inform everybody of important events  and come up with a collective planning for the near future) on the Independence square to vote for what they believed in. Some people started blocking entrances to the government blocks, building barricades and setting up tents. Next two and a half months people spent waiting,  and fighting for every inch of the central streets with “Berkut” special forces.

Because some major disadvantages were caused by revolution, it made some people question the necessity of radical changes. For example, multiple stores and companies located in the center of the city could not function properly or at all for about 3 months. The price of Ukrainian currency on the International Market started speedily decrease, which shortly caused into increasing prices for all the products, so many foreign businessmen stopped investing their money in the country and small companies were either really struggling, or just falling apart. With the same salaries and prices up to two times higher than usual, many people had a really hard time making living, most of them even without participating in revolution. Hundreds of people that were supporting revolution financially from other cities would find their cars completely broken with the threatening notes, some people would be kidnapped and get beaten by some shady persons.

However,  for Ukrainian economics it was important to move away from Soviet ideology that was lately propagandized a lot in some post-Soviet countries, especially Russia. Not signing papers with EU would be followed by closer partnership with Russia. The country would eventually become a part of Russian Federation, enriching their economy and destroying Ukrainian. Knowing Ukrainian president’s greed for money and power, the corruption in the country would keep increasing, slowly turning democracy into absolute dictatorship. People that decided to join revolution were mostly fighting AGAINST worsening the situation in the country, they got tired of a leader who does not lead country to the better future, but takes advantage of his high position for himself and his own family. New president wouldn’t necessarily rapidly solve all the problems in the country, but it was clear, that presidential madness and greed surpassed all the limits of disgrace of a normal human being.

People from all over the country couldn’t let that happen. They were leaving their jobs, families and moving to live in tents in cold winter believing that they can make the difference. Revolutionists were getting support not from the government or any organizations, but from millions of Ukrainians, who couldn’t be present in the Revolution camp physically, but could help by sending food, clothes, medication and whatever else was needed in the “small town” of Ukrainian revolution in the heart of the country. The structure of the camp was well-organized: within a few days,  medical tents, information and announcements desks, tents with food and just for sleeping were set up all over the central streets. Volunteers were guarding all the important entrances, cooking food, improving barricades, taking care of sick people, all depending on skills and preferences. Many  businessmen left their companies without oversight, their comfortable large houses and were working and living equally side by side with poor villagers that barely owned something financially valuable. The camp had its warm and friendly ambiance, it became popular among all the capital residents. Every person was welcome to sit near the fire place and get some dinner and hot tea absolutely for free.

On the other side of barricades,  well-payed special units of “Berkut” and some Eastern Ukrainians that were supporting “Russian direction” and Yanukovich, were the only people left to refuse changes, even after army and police refused to join them. .Presidential party “Partiya Regioniv” organized transportation and provided tents, food, and warm clothes for people in Mariyinskiy park  that were willing to support their president for promised 200 hryvnas, while lots of people were sleeping many days on the Independence Square without shelter. However, it didn’t work out well: “hired” supporters were fighting for food, cursing each other, they were angry and disappointed because some of them got paid just 50 instead of promised 200, while others didn’t get payed at all. Also,  journalists from Korrespondent noticed some young males looking like sportsmen passing through the police circle without any restrictions. After making research on many photos and videos from reports they found information about some hired provokers from the presidential party that were supposed to start aggressive fights with police, to allow them use force against the protesters and then “sportsmen” would go deep behind policemen.

Police forces tried multiple times to break the defense of “Praviy sector”, main self-organized forces of the revolution, find the weakest spots and attack in the least expected moments. All the assaults were followed by beating up every reachable person , without looking at the age or gender, but still people could successfully keep the main camp undefeated. On one side, revolutionists kept the center of the city safe for the citizens, all the stores in the area were open and untouched, revolutionists respected public property, they weren’t violent and were not destroying anything. Public buildings that were occupied by revolutionists, mostly women and sick people, were clean and organized. On the other side, policemen that would win the control over some buildings, would violently break windows, doors, destroy all the provision, medications and small libraries organized in occupied buildings by activists, then leave and then blame everything on “violent revolutionists”.

On December 31st hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were celebrating the coming of New Year by lighting up their phones while singing Ukrainian National anthem. During Christmas holidays which are in first two weeks of January, the revolution camp was half empty, but still many people with an incredible power of will were not going to give up half way.Meanwhile, government, was trying to make the revolution fade away by chasing significant figures of the revolution, torturing and killing them one by one, breaking the cars of the people that were bringing provision to “Praviy Sector” and legalizing ridiculous dictatorial laws.For example, using helmets became illegal, punishable by  jail without a court hearing. Because many people in the “Occupy” camp were using helmets, almost all the time, they automatically became criminals.

By the end of February it was clear for everyone that there was no way back for either side. After spending almost 3 months in the cold, fighting against the dictatorship, surviving in cold winter with almost no shelter and just support by other people from all over the country protesters could no longer  afford giving up. The president and his associates realized that their crimes were no longer unnoticed, but Yanukovich after years of spoiling himself wasn’t willing to give up on his power and treasures.

Things got worse when president decided to resort to drastic actions – On February 18th, the president implemented a law that would allow police to use a real weapons against the protesters. All the special police forces were sent to the center of the city and were commanded to regain control of the Independence Square and all the adjacent streets.  The assaults on the revolution camp were continuously happening for 3 days in a row, trying to exhaust already tired people and take the control over the situation by force.  Police were trying to scare people away  by pouring icy water from water cannons, while professional snipers were injuring some of the most active protesters. However, as soon as people got notifications about the latest news from Maydan, many left their job places, and rushed to the center of the capital to join the revolutionary forces.

On the third day police forces realized that they can’t win the fight against the huge amount of people – no matter what they do, they just met higher resistance every hour.  They started running away to Hrushevskogo street, where they started shooting unarmed protesters and medics, including women and teenagers. The only thing people had to protect themselves from snipers were wooden shields. Some revolutionists were getting shot, but others wouldn’t give up, or leave their friends dying, people kept walking forward with thin wooden shields that couldn’t protect them from bullets, but would give them hope and belief that the entire nation can’t be stopped. More than a hundred people were killed and lots more were injured that day, but thanks to them, revolution succeeded – president ran away to Russia, and the country started restoring from his destructive presidency.

Works Cited

1.“History of Euromaidan” Insider. Web. 3 December 2015

2.”Yanukovych was not stealing hats. He was convicted of stealing a watch” Ukrainian Truth. Web. 27 May 2004.  3 December 2015

3.“Poroshenko: We are moving away from the “scoop” * and not from Russia” Korrespondent. Web 26 November 2013. 3 December 2015

4. ”Mykola Azarov: Further consultations between the EU and Ukraine should be held with the participation of Russia“Korrespondent. Web 27 November 2013. 3 December 2015

5.“‘Sportsmen’ entered In Mariinsky Park from the side of Arsenalna station“Korrespondent. Web 20 January 2014. 3 December

6.“Uprising in Ukraine: How It All Began” Mustafa Nayem. Web. 4 April 2014. 3 December 2015

7. “Viktor Yanukovich” Wikipedia. Web.25 November 2015. 3 December 2015

8.” The auto park of Yanukovich will be filled up with confiscated Mercedes Benz S600″ Novosti mira. Web 28 May 2012. 3 December 2015

Vita-Craving Is Vita-Deadly

The human body is one of the most complex machines in the world. And just like any other machine, we must take good care of our bodies for it to work properly. One of the most important factors of maintaining a healthy body is ensuring we receive the proper nutrients to keep it running smoothly. The best way to do that is to pursue a healthy diet, making sure to absorb all the different kind of nutrients a human body needs. In the sped-up technology filled world we live in today, more and more Americans are finding it hard to maintain a healthy diet. Understandably many Americans turn to multivitamins to ensure they are maintaining a healthy regimen. Unfortunately many people don’t know the facts about multivitamins. What if I said daily vitamin are useless, and may even be harmful in the long run.

Imagine owning a very nice and fast race car. Somebody comes up and tries to sell a product that he guarantees will make any car faster and more efficient. Although I did my research and I know for a fact that this product will not improve anyones car whatsoever. Would anyone purchase it? The answer, I would hope we would all say, is no. Multivitamins are the product that this guy is selling. A useless product that half of all Americans are wasting their money on. In an article called ‘Why Multivitamins May Do More Harm Than Good’ by Stephanie Stickel, she mentions how “The majority of scientific data available does not support the role of dietary supplements for improving health or preventing disease.” So why do Americans continue to purchase multivitamins when there is scientific evidence that they are essentially useless? In the same article the Stickel questions Regan Bailey, a nutritional epidemiologist in the NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements. Bailey claims, “It’s not from the doctors.” I would sure hope my doctor doesn’t recommend me to take vitamins daily that wouldn’t positively effect my health. So who’s really behind the push for multivitamins?

All the producers, suppliers and merchants of multivitamins are reeling in a great amount of profit. The merchants also include any type of store that sells multivitamins. Grocery stores are making a surprisingly large profit from common multivitamins. In an article called ‘Americans Spend Billions on Vitamins and Herbs That Don’t Work’ by Cameron Scott, there are some eye opening statistics about multivitamins. First of all they make up for five percent of all sales from grocery stores. The profit they receive for vitamins is a whopping ten times higher than groceries alone. The supplements in fact help with the sales of many small grocery stores and may even be keeping them in business. There is an estimated twenty-one billion dollars in profit from supplements expected in 2015. With all of this profit it may be motive for the merchants to try and push vitamin sales even more, whether they are useful to us or not.

Another reason why Americans may continue to purchase multivitamins is to make up for their poor diet. America is among the least healthy of first world countries. We have unlimited resources to many ways to be able to maintain a healthy diet yet, us Americans decide stopping at a McDonald’s is the way to go. Nevertheless everyone thinks they are receiving all the nutrients they need by popping a vitamin in the morning then eating junk all day. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that whatsoever. Sadly one reason why Americans waste money on multivitamins is because of our “easy-way-out” attitude. And in the end it could be vitally harmful to anyone who takes daily vitamins.

Doing more harm than good is what’s used to describe vitamins and I believe that’s an understatement. Calcium, for example, is one of the most common supplements taken daily. Calcium is an essential nutrient for your body and it helps build strong bones. In an article called, ‘Are You Taking Too Much Calcium, A or D?’ by Dr. Melissa Young some vital information about negative effects of multivitamins were revealed. Dr. Young from the center for integrative medicine did a specific study on calcium and the results are disturbing.“More and more studies are showing increased risks for heart attack and stroke among men and women taking calcium 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams (mg) per day as directed,” says Dr. Young. Heart attacks and strokes are among the leading causes of death among Americans and a simple multivitamin may be helping cause them.

Another way multivitamins can be harmful is when people continue to take synthetic versions rather than the natural version. This commonly happens with vitamin D.Vitamin D in it’s natural form strengthens the immune system and boosts immunity which can be very helpful. Although when you take the synthetic version it actually causes muscle pain, mood disorders, abdominal pain and kidney stones. It may also increase risk for heart attack and stroke. So here we are, back to having heart attack and strokes from multivitamins. “Most reports of toxicity involve patients taking synthetic vitamin D2, so we prescribe natural vitamin D3,” says Dr. Young.

Dr. Eliseo Guallar, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted three specific studies with some not so surprising results. The studies are provided in the article ‘Experts: Don’t Waste Your Money on Multivitamins’ by Brenda Goodman. For the first study, researchers randomly assigned almost 6,000 male doctors over the age of 65 to take either a daily Centrum Silver multivitamin or a look-alike placebo pill. Every few years, the researchers gave the men a battery of tests over the telephone to check their memories. After 12 years, there was no difference in memory problems between the two groups.”No matter which way we broke it down, there was a null effect,” said Dr. Guallar. This study showed no negative effects but the results confirm the uselessness of this particular pill.

In the second study, researchers randomly assigned 1,700 heart attack survivors enrolled in a trial of therapy known as intravenous chelation to a daily regimen of high doses of vitamins and minerals or placebo pills. In other words, half of the participants took a multivitamin and the other have took a fake vitamin, so they could test the differences. After an average of fifty-five months, there was no significant difference between the two groups in a composite measure that counted the number of deaths, second heart attacks, strokes, episodes of serious chest pain and procedures to open blocked arteries. Yet another study proving that taking vitamins and supplements have no positive effect.

The third study, a research review, assessed the evidence from 27 studies on vitamin and mineral supplements that included more than 450,000 people. The study found no evidence that supplements offer a benefit for heart disease or that they delay death from any cause. Dr Guallar, seeming disgusted for conducting studies over and over again claimed,”The probability of a meaningful effect is so small that it’s not worth doing study after study and spending research dollars on these questions.” The results of these studies are very clear and consistent, and it seems time to not only stop wasting money on these various studies, but on multivitamins altogether.

Another common negative effect of multivitamins when someone takes too much of a given vitamin. As stated before our nation is among the least healthy, therefore many people will take vitamins as a filler for their poor diet. A large problem resurrects when people believe taking more pills can only help even more. People believe there can never be too much of a good thing. That may be true for some things, but certainly not when it comes to multivitamins. First of all, vitamins are not a positive thing to begin with, even when taking the correct dosage. When somebody overdoses, if you will, the effects could be devastating, even deadly.

In an article written by Martin Bagot titled, ‘Too Many Vitamins Can Give You CANCER, Major New Study Warns’ new studies are revealed that show just how harmful taking too much of a supplement can be. Their studies consisted of thousands of patients who were taking dietary supplements and placebos. Their overall results were as followed, “We found that the supplements were actually not beneficial for their health. In fact, some people actually got more cancer while on the vitamins.” Vitamins not being beneficial to ones health is expected at this point, but the fact that some people got more cancer is the scary part. In one specific trial, they tested 35,000 people between 2001 and 2014 in the States.  The results found taking too many vitamin E tablets increased the risk of developing prostate cancer by 17%. An increase this large should be quite alarming. How can something that is supposed to enhance your body possibly have this large of a chance to harm you?

It would seem impossible if I said theres a way to save money and receive all the nutrients the human body requires in one simple technique right? Well there is, and it’s the way the human body is supposed to be receiving these nutrients; through digestion of healthy foods. Strategically purchasing various fruits, vegetables, and meats will provide humans with all the vitamins the body needs. Unless fasting, there is money being spent on food undoubtedly and this can subtract the numerous multivitamin costs that you would normally purchase saving loads of money. Continuation of this process consistently and efficiently will have any human body running like a well oiled, complex machine. 

Works Cited

Stickel, Stefanie. “Why Multivitamins Might Do More Harm Than Good.” Greatist. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Scott, Cameron. “Americans Spend Billions on Vitamins and Herbs That Don’t Work.” Healthlines RSS News. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

“Are You Taking Too Much Calcium, A or D?” Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic. 27 May 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Goodman, Brenda. “Experts: Don’t Waste Your Money on Multivitamins – WebMD.” WebMD. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Bagot, Martin. “Too Many Vitamins Can Give You CANCER, Major New Study Warns.” Mirror. 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.