Counterintuitive Spring 2023

Although convenient, multivitamins are a terrible substitute for the nutrients we would receive from everyday healthy foods. So why are so many Americans taking multivitamins daily? Recent research has shown that studies on many multivitamins are deceiving. It has been found that ‘junk’ vitamins are being used in many of they’re testing groups. Meaning that no matter the result, the study is completely useless. A good example is vitamin E, because many people don’t know there are two different kinds of vitamin E. There’s a synthetic and an organic type of vitamin E. Put in a simpler way, there’s a cheaper version and a more expensive one. Obviously if you’re going to be loading up on cheap vitamins, there aren’t going to be effective. It would be a good idea to have more knowledge about the items you put in your body.

These deceiving studies are creating large profit for pharmacies everywhere. With most people being clueless to the facts, they are still purchasing multivitamins. The false studies are benefiting everyone involved in the business. All producers, suppliers and merchants are reeling in great amounts of profits. The merchants also include any type of store that sells multivitamins. Grocery stores are making a surprisingly large profit from common multivitamins. They make up for five percent of all sales from grocery stores. The profit they receive is a whopping ten times as high as those from groceries alone. The supplements in fact help with the sales of many small groceries. There is an estimated twenty-one billion dollars in profit from supplements expected in 2015.

Many people believe that taking multivitamins can help make up for a poor diet. Not only is this completely untrue but it in fact may be harming more than helping anyone. It has been found that most people are doing this completely on their own. They ignore the research and just because it says “vitamin” on a bottle, they will purchase it and believe it will be helpful. A study that followed more than thirty-eight thousand women for twenty years showed that those who took vitamins daily actually died sooner than those who didn’t. Only vitamin B and calcium had small positive effects.

It is significantly better to receive nutrients through food rather than through a supplement. For example the amount of nutrients in an orange is much greater than a tablet of vitamin C. Not only restoring your body with vitamin C, an orange includes many other nutrients fulfilling your body. If we could all do our research and purchase healthy foods that supply our body with the required nutrients, we could save a lot of money. Not to mention stop wasting money on multivitamins that not only are not always effective, but may even be harming us.

Across the board, placebo controlled scientific studies have consistently showed that vitamin supplements do not prevent disease. And in some cases may even increase ones risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality. Not to mention if one eats three decent meals per day, even if only semi healthy, the multivitamins are useless. Half of all americans take multivitamins, and if any of them did the research they would find out the facts. Saving themselves money and creating a healthy habit for generations to come.

Works Cited

 Why Multivitamins Might Do More Harm Than Good. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2015.

Americans Spend Billions on Vitamins and Herbs That Don’t Work. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2015.

President Obama came in into the white house with a war already on his plate. However the writer explains how all he did was dig a deeper and deeper hole for him. Originally we were sent over as retaliation for 9/11. This is why Americans view what is going on as a good thing because they love the fact that we are getting them back for what they did to us. When in reality Americans have no idea how many deaths we have alone in this war. At the time it did make sense though because they attacked us so wouldn’t we fight back. When someone punches you your reaction isn’t let them keep hitting you, no, you hit them right back.

Obama had one thought in mind and that was to control the whole country to prevent further attacks on U.S. soil. Seems like a good idea right? Well let’s look at some facts then. We know that Afghanistan populates 30 million people and is about the size of Texas. Obama forgets that there are more countries with Afghanistan such as Yemen and Somalia. The article says that if we had killed Bin Laden right away we would have withdrawn victorious. However, in the end he believes that in the end we may be reduced to retreating indecisively, maybe even ignominiously.

The threat of terrorists will always be here, but Obama is not taking this matter lightly. He has a right to be concerned just like every other American because when Iraq wants us extinct it’s alarming and very scary. Obama’s ideas are not very well thought out it seems though. He describes this as an emergency intervention for humanitarian purposes to mutate into a major military campaign. Obama needs to be doing more things like what he did for the starving people of the Yazidi religion. He had an aircraft drop food and water, but then he orders an airstrike to protect the citizens trapped there.

Don’t get me wrong I understand we need to have allies in this world, but once we start killing people to protect a country we are friends with you slowly understand why we keep being threatened and attacked. If we continue to kill their troops it is only going to fuel their anger towards us even more. I do not support the terrorists in any way shape or form, but if we are killing them and keep getting our country involved who knows what the Iraq terrorists will do. We are just lighting a fuse that will eventually blow, I mean these people are literally killing themselves to kill us. I just feel like there is some way for the United States to compromise with the countries we are fighting so that no more blood or tears will be expelled and we can focus more on our country and not everyone else.

Work Cited

http://www.npr.org/2014/10/05/353922001/in-fighting-taliban-is-there-a-conflict-of-interest-for-the-u-s

http://theweek.com/articles/534816/2015-time-some-new-operations-iraq-afghanistan

The term “refugee” churns varying emotions depending upon who is reacting to it. Many would be thrown into a swell of heartbreak; sympathizing for the displaced and their seemingly endless journeys’ to a find a home. While on the other hand, many may actually feel anger towards these people, as if they are infringing upon our homes and way of life. Either way we cut it, the global understanding of what it means to be a refugee appears to be swept under the rug. No one seems to care; or at least not a large enough percentage of the population to do anything about it.

A refugee, in common nomenclature typically refers to displaced humans, who are removed from a homeland through varying factors, such as political turmoil, war, or even natural disasters. However, “refugee” has aroused multiple connotations across the world, and will be approached differently to the respective viewpoint of a person. For many, refugees are a means of study, who can use the data and experiences concerning the phenomenon in order to draw conclusions and analyze them. Others see them as a call for activism, and are deeply moved by the misfortunes of the displaced and sympathize with them at every turn. Still, there are those who either ignore or hold animosity towards them. Across the globe, we can witness refugees being turned down from border to border; ending up in crowded camps with deplorable conditions. In regards specifically to the Calais Refugee Camp in southern France, “A lack of sanitation poses a real threat to public health, with many residents of the camp forced to defecate close to where they sleep and prepare food.” (Davies)

A key factor in the lives of refugees is their movement. The National Geographic article on Syrian refugees depicts the life of a refugee as one of constant movement, typically in the form of walking. Refugees will use various forms of transportation if need be, but typically are restrained to the shoe-lace express. Aside from the walking is quite a bit of waiting. The waiting is usually within the previously mentioned camps, though can be seen at border stops and various locations across a refugees travels.

Refugees are invisible in the end. They are tossed aside by governments in a position to aid them, and are seldom given thought by us, who are so comfortable in our living situations. Are these people so far below us that we should not even consider them during our daily lives? The answer is they are not below us at all, but one could easily infer that they are so considering how they are valued by the greater public.

Works Cited

Davies, Thom. “Geography, Migration, and Abandoment in the Clais Refugee Camp.” Political Geography. Print.

Salopek, Paul. “Syrian Refugees.” National Geographic 1 Mar. 2015. Print.

I used to think of money as to just being a currency and nothing more. If people had a lot of money it means that they were successful, but if they didn’t have a lot of money that means that they were a failure. Money is the only thing that big and successful people care about nowadays. It is because that money is equal to power and the more money that someone has, the more power they could potentially have over others. This is why the government always favors the rich over the poor because they have a lot more money and can give the government more power. Money also decides the social class of society. Those who have a lot of money are considered to be rich and upper class. Those who contain the average amount of money are considered to be the middle class and the working class. Those who have below average amount of money are considered to be poor and the working poor. Money even has the power to change people’s thoughts and lead people to act immorally or lie to others for the opportunity to have a large amount of money. All of these ideas are true about money in today’s society, however money has more valuable purpose other than determining currency.

Money also represents symbols in different cultures and societies. In the United States, the founding fathers are printed on each dollar bill and coins to represent that they are the ones that originally lead the country. Other cultures also have a way as expressing money as a symbol. Japan uses Yen as its currency and their money also holds their past leaders printed within the sheet of paper. Money is valuable tradition because it can get whatever a person desires and it could also potentially save a life. By saving up money towards healthcare and insurance, money is a valuable essential that can help people in the future. How money can fulfill our desires is that people will often “trade” money and will products in return. Before there was money, people often just trade animal skin, food and other valuables to each other. Now with money, it makes easier to trade products. So essentially money does have more values than being just currency.

Works Cited

Gregoire. Carolyn. How Money Changes the Way We Think and Behave. The Huffington Post. 6 January, 2014.

Beattie. Andrew. The History of Money: From Barter to Banknotes. Investopedia.

Mass shootings have become the most common tragedy in our society. This is a new trend of terror so its kind of hard to make an accurate definition of it. The most accurate thing that can be said about it that mass shootings is an incident involving multiple victims due to gun violence.

The confusing part is distinguishing mass murders to gun violence. Gun violence can be considered when one person decides to rob another a gun point and still manages to wound or kill one or two victims. This wouldn’t be considered a mass murder however because there were only one or two victims within this incident. Multiple sources have a different count of victims to be considered a mass shooting but generally most people and websites agree that the number of victims to be considered a mass shooting is four whether injured or deceased. A mass shooting is just one individual an attack in one day at a single location. So the infamous Washington DC sniper is considered a mass shooting because he committed many murders throughout a course of several weeks.

Mass shootings are under the category of homicides of the Federal Beau Inspection. Mass shootings also have a sub category called school shootings. This has a clear definition than mass shootings, a school shooting basically an attack on an educational institute such as a high school or university. School shootings can be considered to be under the category of mass shootings because they usually involve multiple victims.

Any type of weapon that has live rounds and is used on an attack is considered gun violence. Guns range from small firearms such as pistols to heavy artily such as machine guns. Every type of weapon has been used in a different sense to commit murder among individuals. The most common weapons to use are automatic assault rifles. There is no specific location on where a mass shooting can occur. A mass shooting has proven that it can occur anywhere. It can occur at educational institutions, as previously mentioned, movie theaters and even churches. A recent mass shooting even occurred on live TV. As stated before, mass shootings are a new trend that really no one can get a grasp on how to define them yet.

Works Citied

“What Exactly Is a Mass Shooting?” Mother Jones. Mark Follman, 24 August 2012. Web. 27 October 2015.

“Another: The 45^th School Shooting in America in 2015.” NewsWeek. Michelle Richinick. 1 October 2015. Web. 27 October 2015.

Too many states in the U.S execute their own citizens. Although judges and courts believe putting an inmate on death row to justify their criminal act, it is an unethical resolution that is unnecessary to be performed. To clearly define the death penalty, it is a form of legalized unusual punishment. States today want to murder their own people by injecting lethal/harmful drugs in the body, electrocution, and death from a firing squad. States pay millions of dollars to perform only one execution. Legal executions are wasting money from the state, let alone the citizens who are tax payers. It costs more to kill someone rather than allowing to let them live.

The criminal justice system in the U.S is suppose to deter crime, rehabilitate convicts, and incapacitate dangerous criminals. By giving life in prison, opposing to eliminating their; serves a better way to follow the justice system’s functions. According to Sean McElwee, life imprisonment is certainly deterrent, and allows rehabilitation, where as death is final. The death penalty ultimately doesn’t serve the purpose of the criminal justice system. The death penalty is institutionalized, emotional closure, cost effective, and also reflects on racism. The justice systems wants to end violent criminals, most importantly trying to stop  violence in general, when they are promoting violence themselves. Gunning down a criminal or electrocuting an individual is violent itself.

Works Cited:

McElwee, Sean. “It’s Time to Abolish the Death Penalty.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 7 Sept. 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

Hayworth, Michael. “5 Reasons Some People Think the World Needs the Death Penalty.” Amnesty Australia. N.p., 8 July 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

The act of breastfeeding can be traced back to the very beginning of mankind, depicted in cave drawings, sculpted into ancient pottery, and documented in primeval writings. Before you could buy formula at your local supermarket or puree vegetables in a blender to make your own food, there was only one way to feed babies. Although the word itself is essentially self-explanatory, modern ideas of breastfeeding have been increasing, leaving parents and healthcare providers alike with questions. Any one person may be able to define breastfeeding in the physical act, but when it comes to understanding or accepting the concept, no one wants to open their mouth.

The 77% of infants being breastfed in the United States have a thing or two in common.  They are all being fed by a woman, presumably their mother. They are also receiving antibodies and nutrients that will benefit them for years to come. General breastfeeding can be defined as feeding a child breastmilk directly from the nipple into the child’s mouth. This simple explanation will suffice for someone who only wants the bare minimum but there is so much more to learn. Newborns are helpless and have almost only one way to eat. Without the vital act of breastfeeding, they are at a higher risk for weaker immune systems and sensitive stomachs down the road, among other things.

Imagine that you are eating in public, perhaps at a restaurant, and someone asks you to stop because it is making them uncomfortable. You are confused, but to them it is crystal clear. They want you to stop eating your roasted vegetable and hummus wrap that is providing your body with vitamins and energy because it is making them nauseous. Now imagine realistically that you are in the same restaurant and a woman is breastfeeding her 2 month old son, and is asked by the manager to do it privately or leave the restaurant because multiple people have complained. A mother taking only 5 minutes to provide food and sustenance for her child who cannot feed himself will feel as if she has been asked to stop caring for her child.

So the question stands, what about breastfeeding makes people squirm in their seats? We are a 21^st century society, no longer as traditional as our country once was. Our culture has changed, ideas and morals have changed. Breastfeeding has almost always been an inclusive idea, not universally accepted as a public activity. Perhaps it is the modern idea to sexualize breasts, or maybe it is a disgusting thought to those more close-minded about infants and bodily functions. Some argue that they do not want their children to see a woman breastfeed or they think the woman wants attention. Others state that the word breast alone makes them feel yucky. Being hesitant towards accepting breastfeeding implies that feeding a baby poses an issue, or there is something wrong with it. Aside from a person’s own discomfort with the subject, there is no true issue.

Where there is controversy, there can also be compromise. Many mothers who breastfeed publicly will make efforts to minimalize the attention drawn to her.  Although it can be somewhat uncomfortable for mom and baby, special cover-ups are designed specifically for breastfeeding.  Women who feed their baby openly can take measures to attract less attention, but much of the compromise is in the hands of the bystander. Parents can teach their children to have respect for mothers and their infants and tell them to look away. People can educate themselves more about the concept of breastfeeding, and perhaps when they learn how necessary it is to proper development and bonding between a mother and child, they will find it less offensive.

Ignorance can to lead to assumptions and controversy. There may never be an answer to what is normal when it comes to breastfeeding. What some accept, others refute. What some are for, others are against. As with any other issue in the world, advocates for breastfeeding will continue to strive for acceptance but there will always be different answers to what is considered normal and appropriate.

Works Cited

“Breastfeeding Controversy: What is Normal? What is Accepted?” WordPress.com. 18 May 2012.   https://formingthethread.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/breastfeeding-controversy-whats-normal-whats-accepted/

Reneau, Annie. “What’s So Hard About Covering Up To Breastfeed?” scarymommy.com. http://www.scarymommy.com/whats-so-hard-about-covering-up-to-breastfeed-in-public/

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “Breastfeeding Report Card, United States/2013. July 2013.  http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2013breastfeedingreportcard.pdf

Fear is easy to define I don’t even need to look it up. Fear is simply a human response to danger. If I am wrong in that definition I am not far off, for I am human which means I myself am a good enough resource to define a human quality. What is going to take a little more effort to define, however, is what exactly “horror” is.

Actually its pretty easy; horror is the emulation of fear without being in danger. (Wow, perhaps that was too quick of a definition, let me elaborate) Fear is only fear when an individual is in fact in danger. Otherwise why be afraid? However, the sensation of being afraid without actually being in danger is what makes up horror. When someone watches a scary movie or plays a frightening game they aren’t actually “afraid” of it, they are “horrified” by it. When someone from New Jersey reads a news article about a serial killer in California that skins peoples faces off, that isn’t anything to be afraid of for them, because the individual is not in danger, but it can be horrifying.

So yes, horror is a similar sensation as fear but it isn’t fear (that’s why it is a different word). I would personally view horror as a totally different state of mind from fear. Since being afraid involves the instincts to fight and survive and horror is simply sitting on a couch. When watching a horror film, there is no urge to destroy the TV or run away from it, because it is not putting you in actual danger. Therefore, it is a different response than fear. Actually, horror is something an individual yearns for. Why else would they buy the movie and put it on the TV in the first place? Being in a situation that causes fear is something that everyone avoids entirely.

Horror is also different from “thrill”. Sky diving isn’t necessarily something that merits fear, even though the person is in danger of falling to their death. Thrill is a satisfaction that comes from coming closer to death than you would consciously be on a regular everyday basis, and not dying regardless. It is said that “daredevils” who constantly seek thrill are people who have a condition. They experience less excitement than most people from everyday life and therefore must constantly perform dangerous stunts in order to feel “normal”. These people are not sitting around watching horror movies to make themselves feel normal, for it is not the same sensation.

Such as films, literature, painting and music can be satirical, philosophical, and autobiographical, they can also be horrifying (ask Evard Munch). Horror  has a sort of sub-definition; it is a genre that spans multiple media. An artist can set out to make something comical just as much as they can make something horrifying; and just as well, no one is going to “fear” for their life from a painting…

Horror, however, unlike most genres, is in high demand. People actively pursue and consume horror as a product. If it was only just a novelty it wouldn’t be as popular as it is now. People do not love being afraid but people do love horror, and there is no immediate danger so it is also not a thrill.

Horror is its own art-form as well as its own state of mind.

Work Cited

Extreme Phsycology

The Scream

There are lots of reasons why one might not feel happy in his or her life. It may not even be necessarily that something bad has happened, often it’s just a feeling of sadness or loneliness. We can get caught up in depression or anxiety, which can lead to withdrawing into oneself and result in even more sadness and loneliness. It can be a vicious cycle. Especially in today’s society where so much importance is placed on social media and instant gratification, it is hard to find true meaning in one’s life.

Sometimes we need to take a few weeks, or months even, to step back and evaluate where we are mentally, spiritually, and emotionally in our lives. If we’re feeling unhappy, we need to give serious thought as to why. Happiness isn’t an inherent value in our lives. It could very well be that we’re just existing – going to work or school every day, coming home, doing our day-to-day tasks – and we’re not actually living. And most of the time this is no one’s fault but our own. If happiness is the end goal, we need to get out there and make it happen.

Figuring out our purpose in life is a big step to creating the life we want to live. It will drive our every action, and give us big-picture goals to work toward. Our goals give us meaning in our lives, something important to do, and thusly creating a sense of accomplishment, or happiness. Our life’s purpose can be anything: a dream career, being a wife and mom, getting a second master’s degree, traveling, etc. No matter what we feel led to do in our lives, the goal is getting out there and accomplishing all that we can. Of course there will be setbacks, some days will be good, others not so good, but life is all about the journey. We need to focus on being the best we can be. Creating a meaningful life, filled with our all-important purposes, will be hard. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. And it all starts with self-awareness – accepting who we are, where we are in our lives, where we want to go from here, and what our purpose is. We need to be ok with who we are above anything else. We need to have total confidence that we can and will do everything we set in front of ourselves, and after that, things will start to fall into place. We will cease to “exist” and we will start living. We will enjoy the little things, and continuously work towards the big things. Figuring out a purpose gives our life and our actions meaning, and that meaning we find in everything we do will create long-term happiness and a sense of profound personal accomplishment.

Works Cited

How to Create (Not Find) Meaning in Your Life

Creating Meaning in Your Life

In order to fully comprehend the counterintuitive encouragement of the discussion of rape culture and what supports it, “rape culture” itself must be defined. In order to fully understand the depth of rape culture, we must confront and define the main ideas and actions that substantiate it. These ideas include “victim blaming” and “slut shaming.” Once explained, clarity of rape culture will be reached and the counterintuitive premises of the discussion of this culture will be introduced.

Rape culture is defined as a setting where rape is normalized. It’s where people side with the accused instead of the victim. The victim is the one who is under scrutiny and is automatically presumed as a liar. The culture is a part of our society; it’s something that is taught and learned at a young age and throughout development. According to Kate Harding, “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.” Harding is right. 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. Girls aren’t encouraged to speak up for what they want, and when they do, it’s seen as a game. In this game, the perpetrators of rape are the winners, and the victims are the losers. I am not saying that all rapists are men; I am simply highlighting the points that support this brand of culture. There are certainly female rapists, and they too are held at a higher standard than their victims are.

Victim blaming is loosely defined as when the victim of a crime is held accountable in some way, shape or form. In contexts of rape culture, 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, they are 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. This is detrimental to their well-being, and it adds to rape culture. 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, or if justice is served, will face the necessary consequences.

Works Cited

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

“Why Victims of Rape in College Don’t Report to the Police.” Time. Eliza Gray, 23 June 2014. Web. 26 October 2015.