Carlos Mencia

I am not one to always take everything seriously and I like to joke around on occassion but a few topics I steer clear of are racial jokes and disability jokes. I think that many people are very sensitive about these issues. I especially would not make fun of people who have learning or mental disabilities. I think it is very hurtful and immature for a full grown man to make fun of kids with mental disabilities. I think he crossed the line there.I personally think it's wrong to tell jokes like that. I can understand where Carlos was going about education though. The standards have fallen. A lot of people just don't care. They are fine with C's. I know a few people who just aim for C's. These people are not getting any help and they don't have any reason not too. A friend of mine has a learning disbility and her grades in high school were better than some of the students who didn't even have learning disbilities. She has tutors and her tutors are actually family members. I think that maybe a lot of kids do have some learning disability or ADD but kids shouldn't blame their bad grades on their disability. There are some parents who also blame their childrens' bad grades on either the disability or get upset at teachers when their children are failing. I do agree with Carlos about that to an extent because he did exaggerate that quite a bit. As for the video about the different races and not being able to say things about other races, I think he was a little less offensive but he still was. Since I've been in Miami, I have already been made fun of or given weird looks at when people ask me what my background is. I tell them I'm Puerto Rican and they either say "Oh I'm sorry "or they just say "Oh" with a little attitude. I don't take it very seriously and I don't get offensive but it still does bother me a little. If I have ever asked someone their background, I never say anything about it. I might say, "Oh I have a friend from there." If the world could only have more respect and consideration for others...

Media and Politics

The media influences many things in our lives. How to dress, what brands to wear,how to act, what words are cool, which celebrities to like,what cars to buy, and even everyday household products. Advertisements for them are everywhere. And of course there's the never ending saga of how Paris Hilton,Nicole Richie, and Linday Lohan are wasting away to nothing. They along with many celebrities influence people, mainly young girls on how to dress and how much to weigh. Some of my friends have mentioned wanting to look just like Paris Hilton. Looking at images of all these celebrities and brands and clothing definitely influences people. Personally, certain advertisements for cosmetics and clothing influence me. I don't actually go and get them but the thought is still there.
What the media should focus on more are politics. Actually, politics is in the media. However, many us of, especially young adults, do not choose to watch the channels or read magazines that are about politics. I know that I personally need to brush up on it. Last year in two of my classes, we had to read newspaper articles 4 days a week and make a journal entry about the particular article. Most of them were about poltics. I used to be very informed about what was happening in the government and other political issues and now i really do not have a good idea about what is happening. The video clip proved that our youth really has no idea about what is going on in the political world. But if they would have asked them about Britney Spears or Paris Hilton they probably would have talked for 10 minutes about their lives. This definitely is not good at all because who runs our country? Who runs our state? Who runs our city? Britney Spears sure does not! Very important people in politics do. They make decisions everyday that effect our lives. They make decisions about taxes and school funding which is actually a big issue right now for FIU and it's pre-med students because some funding for the med school is being taken away. College age students are still the group of people who do not vote enough and it should change because many of the decisions that political leaders make effects college age students.

Miss Teen USA 2007

I think that sometimes it is so easy to just say someone is stupid but I like to put myself in their place. They put a lot of emphasis on pageant questions and the girls are under a lot of pressure and they have to study months ahead. Even though they study,they still get nervous. I know I would. However I don't know that I would have gotten so off the subject but it still happens. I think it was realy brave of her to go on a talk show because what happened to her was embarassing but she spoke about it anyway. She even gave the answer that she would have liked to say and it truly was a much better answer and it was pretty good. I think that pageant girls are viewed negatively and they shouldn't be because not all of them are "stupid, mean, or superficial" as how some people view them. I know a girl that has done pageants before and she is very intelligent and very nice all kinds of people. Many of these pageants are scholarship programs so they are just trying to get money for college just like many of us. I can definitely simpathize with this young lady.