Week 6 Blog -- Carding for Energy Enhancers.

Recently I attempted to buy a 5 Hour Energy shot at a Casey’s gas station. Now in order to actually purchase an energy shot and certain energy drinks there you have to provide proof that you are at least 18 years of age.  I was surprised to be asked for my ID for an energy enhancer drink that I was trying to purchase.  I buy Red Bulls, energy shots and more all the time and for the first time ever I was carded.  Even talking about it amazes me, carding someone for an energy enhancer; its not alcohol nor is it a tobacco product so what is the deal?   After this happened I started doing some of my own personal research on it and came across an article that is dated July 30, 2013.  It is a local CBS news website that talks about how Casey’s Stores now require ID for energy shots and pills.  Reading further into this article they talk about how the Vice President of Finance for Casey’s General Store states that each shot has more caffeine than one cup of coffee and that he does want teenagers to get “carried away with them”.  He also talks about how they are concerned about how teenagers consume them may not be in a manner that they are intended for.  This to me is ludicrous.  Who is he to make judgment calls one what a person consumes?  Seeing as it is not stated that he is anything in the medical field, I don’t believe he even has the right nor should he have the capability to make this choice on the matter. 

Week 5 - Gay Rights

In chapter 21 of Argument!, an article call “Gay Rights in California” by Kevin Drum talks about how the Proposition 8 was heading for a passage. Opponents of same sex marriages created the proposition.  Some would say that there is a real “truth of marriage” and that gay marriage is not “inevitable”.  People have said that marriage is an institution created by God to bring “men and women” together for benefits of children and that is the only way a union is created.  Well those who are narrow minded are not receptive to the idea that someone can find the same sex attractive or even love them the same way a man can love a woman.  Falling in love is inevitable.  It is not someone’s choice whether it is man or woman it is just how he or she feel.  In this article, the author questions if Barack Obama would have taken a risk and stepped up towards Gay Rights that it could have swayed the votes more or possibly hurt him in his race.  I have to disagree with the author on this topic.  Barack Obama was going to win no matter what he had said about anything.  Americans had it in their minds that he was going to do great things and make great changes.  When looking back at the election, Obama got more than 93 percent of the votes from blacks and 71 percent from Hispanics.  He is our first black president and the statistics show that that is the only thing that matter to majority of Americans.  It wouldn’t have mattered what he would have promised or said because so many people were already on board for him to be president just because of his race.

Week 4- A New Gateway Drug?

On February 11, 2014, according to Fox News, a study was published about how energy drinks are possibly the new gateway drug. They had Dr. David Samadi, Fox News Medical A Team, Chief of Robotics Surgery, speak on the subject on Fox News Health Video. Red bull, Monster, Amp, Rockstar and Nos are all different brands of energy drinks that this doctor is claiming to be 2-3 times more addictive now more than ever.  They main “abusers” are teenagers from eighth to tenth grade, mainly boys, in a single parent household or a household with lower level education parents.  Dr. Samadi had stated that he believes that energy drinks are linked to alcohol consumption and drug abuse.  Some may not be FDA regulated and some teens say that it is a “quick fix” for high energy.  He also talks about how the sugar load exhausts the pancreas, can cause diabetes, insomnia, anxiety, and nervousness. Even with all these possible issues, the talk of teenagers drinking an energy drink before going to work out at the gym can lead to dehydration.  The main reason Dr. Samadi is saying that it may possibly be the new gateway drug for alcohol and drugs is because most teens are mixing the energy drink with alcohol. Combining alcohol with energy drinks is unhealthy because the energy drink is a stimulant and alcohol is a depressant and with how much is mixed and drank many teenagers are ending up in emergency rooms. 

I myself drink a good amount of Red bull.  I have to disagree with the direction Dr. Samadi is going with this idea of the new “gateway” drug.  Yes, energy drinks can be bad for you.  This also depends on how healthy you are and how you take care of yourself though.  I drink Red bull however I do not drink alcohol.  I come from a household with lower level education but that has never affected how healthy I am or what choices I make.  So the fact that he is saying that eighth to tenth grade boys with a certain type of family is at high risk because they consume an energy drink is ridiculous.  It is the choices they make in addition to drinking energy drinks that actually hurt them the most.

Week 3 - "Turning Goys into Girls"

In the article Turning Goys into Girls, Michelle Cottle is taking about how women are changing from wanting to be glamorous and fashionable to being concerned with their social, professional and economical statuses.  She talked about how women are growing to be more financial independent so therefore the suitors will need to provide more for the woman if he or she expects to win her heart.  She states that women have been going at it all the wrong way that instead of trying to be perfect and what society wants, we should turn the tables and convince the men that they key to their happiness is with us.  Basically making them work harder and us not work as hard anymore. 

Michelle Cottle’s writing does an amazing job at describing the equality of women and men.  I like the fact that she recognized that everyone wants to be know as attractive or desirable.  Who doesn’t want that?  It doesn’t matter how often we are told that, how healthy we are or how thin or thick we are she states that “In recent years, such publications have embraced the tenets of “evolutionary biology,” which argue that, no matter how often we’re told that beauty is only skin deep, men and women are hardwired to prefer the Jack Kennedys and Sharon Stones to the Rodney Dangerfields and Janet Renos.” (Argument! 261).  She doesn’t say it but from how she describes it you can tell she hates it.  She hates the fact that women seem to think that they have to look like a model.  Even though models are typically a hundred pounds and 5’10” and up.  They are unhealthy and sickly looking.  Why would any women really want to look that way?

I agree with her almost all the way through this article until Cottle talks about how in Men’s Health is “hawking” more about general fitness and healthy lifestyle.  She states “The line between taking pride in one’s physical appearance and being obsessed by it is a fine one -- and one that disappeared for many women long ago.” (Argument! 261).  I myself do not see a “fine line” between looking good and feeling good about how you look.  Its better to be happy about how healthy and amazing you look and are than to fret over how you’re not skinny enough and do not look like the anorexic models in the magazines.

Overall the article was very eye opening and fascinating. Women are finally starting to realize that they do not need a man; if anything men realized that they need women more. Roles have changed and so have times.