Activism

The world is pretty messed up.
I'm not really blaming anyone. That's just the way it is.

I feel like there is a myriad of problems one can get active about. Everything from the people we interact with, to the air we breath, to the food we eat.

But not a lot of people are "active." Activism isn't a field a lot of people get into.

I don't think it's the fault of humanity. I believe that there is an inherent good in people, for the most part.

But here's why I think most of us aren't activists:
1. Most of the time, we don't even know there's a problem. The media doesn't cover it. Interests groups hide it. Everything is swept under the carpet we are standing on and it would take a lot of effort to uncover it all.
2. Even if we do uncover it, that's a crapload of dirt we have to clean out. Where do we start? Where do we go to get the tools, the finance? Who do we go to for help or advice?
3. We have lives to lead. We have money to earn, families to look after, studies to complete. These things take up a lot of time and brainspace already. We can't afford to do anything productive about AIDS in Africa, factory farming, or health care. Sure, we'll donate a few bucks here and there, read books about it, have heated debates with our friends, attend lectures or teach-ins, but chances are we can't dedicate our mind, body, and spirit to it.

I feel like I talk about a lot of issues, but I can't say I am doing anything about them.
Thinking about the world and all it's problems makes me feel so feeble and insignificant.

Like this issue that has been on my mind lately.

Obesity. People associate obesity with rich, white Americans who can afford to overindulge themselves with rich, fatty foods. Truth is, rich people are among the healthiest in the population. They are the ones that are taking yoga classes, have personal trainers or their own dietitians. And if they do get fat, liposuction is the easy solution.

The people most prone to obesity are minorities living in inner cities, where there are more McDonald's and convenience stores than grocery markets, where it is cheaper to buy a fast food meal than a home cooked dinner. They are not eating unhealthy food out of choice, but out of necessity.

Obesity is such a huge public health issue. It is a pandemic wreaking havoc across all 50 states. But this issue goes so much deeper than individuals having high BMIs. It's about racial inequities and social stratification. It's about city planning. It's about the economy and money.

And here I am, a college student who grew up in a majority white suburban city. I lived close to at least 4 different grocery stores. I have a mom conscious of healthy foods and cooked healthy meals. I was happy in my suburban bubble.
But now I see the bulges in the carpet, the small tears revealing a mere fraction of the shit that goes on in the world. Things I overlooked all my life because I am one of the lucky ones. Things I can't even grapple with let alone relate to.


So now what?

SEX

SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX

Even though it is a vital part of life (without it we would basically die out as a species), sex is still a hush hush topic around the world. People don't want to address it, talk about it, or have anything to do with it. And this denial, this viewing of sex as a taboo subject and a forbidden act, is killing people, literally killing tens of millions of people worldwide. Governmental officials and public health experts have the information, can access the stats, but they still aren't doing much of anything when it comes to problems or issues associated with sex.

Classic example: The AIDS epidemic. Because it was mostly effecting the gay community in San Francisco, the Reagan Administration chose to overlook it. As it result, the research for AIDS/HIV when it matter most lacked the funds and the resources it needed to figure out what's going on.
And even today, we are educating children about AIDS/HIV and other forms of STDs by telling them to abstain from sex.

Dear World, horny teenagers are going to have sex regardless of what you tell them. Show them proper protection so they don't get infected in the process.

Another example: female sex workers. I understand that governments don't want to admit that prostitution goes on, but it DOES. Governments don't have to condone it, but denying that it goes on doesn't make it go away. Address it! Educate people! Require sex workers to use condoms to stop venereal diseases from spreading!

And it doesn't have to be about condoms or other forms of contraception. Male circumcision lowers the chance of STDs. It is a simple, effective procedure that would have an enormous impact on lowering rates of HIV/AIDS. If circumcision is worked into the social context in Africa, for example, there will be lower rates of the debilitating disease. We are so focused on finding a vaccine or a cure for HIV/AIDS, but something like HIV/AIDS can't only be addressed in a scientific aspect. It is also a social problem and could be solved or at least made less attenuated with social solutions.

We need to change our perception of sex. We need to be more open-minded about it. We need to be able to discuss it, address it, and accept it.

I know I don't have much of a voice in all this. I can easily be dismissed as a liberal 20-year old. It probably doesn't help that I go to Cal, an institution with a reputation for hippies and free love.

But this isn't a matter of conservative vs liberal.
This is fact vs. fiction, education vs. ignorance, what is good for the population vs. a population being overlooked and ignored.

And it's infuriating when I read or hear about "adults" and "experts," people who are supposedly more experienced and educated than I, refusing to see things that are so clear and so obvious.

It seriously makes my blood boil.

Procrastination

I am procrastinating.

I love my classes this semester (except soc. theory.) They are relevant, eye-opening, and mind blowing.

But I want to learn for the sake of learning. I don't want to do work. I don't want to worry about grades. I just want to soak it all in like a happy sponge.
Unfortunately, this attitude is not widely accepted by the school system. As a result I am sucking as a student.

I have learned to appreciate Marx though. I mean, he's a pretentious asshole, but he saw the world the way we refuse to see it. He's obsessively and unnecessary wordy, but if you broke down his arguments, they make sense...to an extent.

Weber, on the other hand, is a douchebag.

EDIT: Okay, Weber is not a douchebag. But he could be less wordy.

Silver Clouds, Dark Lining.

Alright. Let's see how brief I can keep this because I have better things to do than write about stuff I find fascinating that others may find boring...assuming people actually read this.

Human advancement is outpacing human evolution. I find it interesting that that is basically screwing us over.
Not that bettering human life is a bad thing. I appreciate not having to hunt or gather for food. I appreciate the roof over my head, clothes on my back, etc. Not having to worry about basic needs allows me to fill my head with other stuff...like the fact that human advancement is screwing us over.

Let's take diet for example.
We are evolved to binge eat. Back in the day, when we didn't have the means to order a Big Mac from the drive-thru window, we had to scour for food. When we kill an animal or find a berry bush, we eat as much as we can because there's no assurance that there will be food tomorrow. We have a taste for fat and sugars because they give us energy, provide us lasting nutrition, and because they were hard to come by.
Hunting and gathering led to fences, which encloses animals in one place allowing you to kill and cook at will. Soon, land became a big deal because you need it to fence in animals. Agriculture was discovered, so you don't have to go out and gather nuts and berries anymore. Large scale farming was developed. Factories to produce mass quantities of food came into being. Groceries stores, restaurants, and fast food chains began popping up practically everywhere there is people. In a couple thousand years, we went from having to search for nourishment, to eating as an enjoyable passtime.

To quench our affinity to fats and sugars, our foods are loaded with it. To satisfy our food-cravings, our urges to binge, we have supersized everything.

The result? Obesity.
Diabetes. Heart disease. High cholesterol. We have overshot our bodies' dietary limits. By making food more available, we are becoming sicker.

And that's not the only side effect. People are hitting puberty sooner. While at one point in time, boys' voices don't start cracking until they are 16 years old, they are now experiencing puberty at 14 at the latest.
So what?
Well, I have to do more research on this, but in the case of women, going through puberty at a younger age puts them more at risk of breast cancer. On purely evolutionary point of view, societal expectations and regulations aside, hitting puberty means one is ready to have sex. Something about pregnancy and the hormones involved (estrogen, progesterone, oxytocin, what have you) protects women against breast cancer. In the modern society, pregnancy is being put off later and later. While girls are ready to have a child at age 14, women don't have kids until 35. Now, a shocking 1 in 8 are at risk of breast cancer.

Scientists are studying how the pill may prevent breast cancer, actually. The hormones in the pill simulate the hormones during pregnancy.

I'm not saying that we should go back to living on mere subsistence. I'm sure as hell not saying that kids should have sex right when they hit puberty. I'm not offering any solutions to these public health issues either.

I just find human advancement so...stunning. It's crazy what we can do, how far we've come, what we've become as a race. But at the same time, our obsession with making things bigger, faster, and more convenient could have pretty averse side effects that ripples across the world and through generations. From a pessimistic viewpoint, but really because it rhymes and sounds like a line from a dystopia film, our quick innovations may very well lead to our slow destruction.

On a somewhat related note, watched 9 the other day. It was interesting. And depressing. I recommend it.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

I had lunch with an old friend from high school the other day. We started talking about people who have changed or stayed more or less the same since high school.

I think college breeds change.
Actually, maybe it's not even change. Maybe it's just...self-discovery and self-assertion. Perhaps in college, people just feel more free to be themselves. In high school, they are funneled into cliques defined by set behaviors and actions. In college, they are left to their own devices, doing their own thing. It's not a big deal if none of their friends are in their classes. People are not tagged as loners if they eat lunch by themselves. Once people discover that they can get by determining their own daily agenda, they start working on defining their own person, their own statutes, and eventually, their own lives.

Perhaps those of us who haven't changed much since high school were already at that level of security.

I was extremely socially aware in high school. I saw high school cliques as separate countries that I did not have visas to. I could not even imagine hanging out with the people who were "popular," or "goth," or "hipster," or what have you.
Interestingly enough, it wasn't until after high school, that I became randomly reaquainted with a few people outside of my original high school clique. They weren't attached to their high school labels anymore. They are individuals. Individuals I can now relate to.

Yeah, I hate high school.

I can honestly say that right now, at this point in my life, I am the most self-assured as I have ever been. I am free. Independent. Ambiguous. Clique-less.

And it feels pretty darn good.

Gobama!

A couple days ago, President Obama gave a speech about Health Care reform.

Yeah I do realize I am writing about it kind of late. But I needed to gather my thoughts about it.

Quick summary for those of you who didn't watch it. He spent the first part of the speech going over what was wrong with our health care system. High costs, spotty coverage, less security and stability and no better health, etc.

Then he suggested forming a government-run insurance company available to those who are under the poverty level.

This is what he said about it:

"Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service, and employ a lot of our friends and neighbors. I just want to hold them accountable. (Applause.) And the insurance reforms that I've already mentioned would do just that. But an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange. (Applause.) Now, let me be clear. Let me be clear. It would only be an option for those who don't have insurance. No one would be forced to choose it, and it would not impact those of you who already have insurance. In fact, based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, we believe that less than 5 percent of Americans would sign up."

I think it's interesting how President Obama is trying to play off the whole government run insurance thing as an extension on capitalism. Because, you know, we love our free markets. This new government program is merely additional competition in the insurance marketplace. It will keep the private insurance companies in check.
And it's not even very big competition. Only 5% of Americans are going to sign up.

I know the Republicans aren't buying it. "Hold[ing] them accountable" means that private insurance companies are going to have to lower their prices to compete with the governmental program.

I personally think it's a great idea. It's so obvious I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself. THe concept anyway. I mean, if we want to make health coverage available to all, we must appeal to the capitalist fervor in our country. What better way to do this but to claim that it's part of the free market system, and not at all socialist. Whether the vast majority of the American public will buy this, I don't know.

The only thing I'm really concerned about (and it's a big thing) is how it's going to be supported financially. Okay, the concept might work, but I don't really see how it's going to be executed financially if we don't have the funds.

This is what he said about that issue:

"Second, we've estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system, a system that is currently full of waste and abuse. Right now, too much of the hard-earned savings and tax dollars we spend on health care don't make us any healthier. That's not my judgment -- it's the judgment of medical professionals across this country. And this is also true when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid...Reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan. (Applause.) Now, much of the rest would be paid for with revenues from the very same drug and insurance companies that stand to benefit from tens of millions of new customers. And this reform will charge insurance companies a fee for their most expensive policies, which will encourage them to provide greater value for the money -- an idea which has the support of Democratic and Republican experts. And according to these same experts, this modest change could help hold down the cost of health care for all of us in the long run. "

Okay so, save money with existing systems that are wrought with waste and inefficiencies. Use money for new program.

Yeah...goooodd luck with that.

No one like change. The people who use Medicaid might not have much power to say much about it, but people using Medicare? Old, mostly white, ornery seniors? I'm pretty sure they are going to protest any changes to the "waste and abuse" their health is depending on. Not to mention, there are going to be a lot more of them now that the baby boomers are reaching that critical 65+ age that would make Medicare applicable.

So, I support the plan. I support the concept. I support where it's going. But, the bill is not going to pass without some major road blocks. And if it does pass, I am skepitcal about how it's going to be supported financially.
But, I can't think of a better way of doing addressing the health care problem.

So good luck, Obama administration. Good. Luck.

Health Care

I believe Health is a right not a commodity and everyone should have access to health.

Now that that is out of the way, I love my Health Policy and Management class, which is interesting because it was the class I was the least excited about.

But what better time to take the class than now. It is extremely relevant to what's going on in the news. Health care is being debated and discussed in townhall meetings across the nation until people are blue in the face. It's the Republicans against the Democrats, House against the Senate, People against the State! In all the commotion, it's nice to be taking a class that will inform me about what the eff is going on.

Here's my brief sociological analysis on why we are the richest and most powerful nation in the country, yet compared to other industrialized nations, we have higher infant mortality rates, lower life expectancies, and overall, unhealthier people. Okay, I didn't come up with this, but it makes a lot of sense.

Historically, we've been anti-government and pro-capitalism. It's literally in our roots. After slaughtering all the Indians, immigrants from England came here to escape from their imposing governments. The founding fathers of our country put a crapload of "checks-and-balanced" in the Constitution so the government won't go out of control. While other countries were calling their rulers Kings and Queens, we addressed our "ruler" as "Mr. President." We championed free trade. We pushed for free markets. We believed that letting everyone share their wares will equalize costs, destroy monopolies, and weed out the weak. Down with Communism! Screw Socialism!
The line between Church and State blurs sometimes, but between the State and the Economy, the line as thick as Montana.

I'm not going to get into economics because that's really not the point of this entry and, to tell you the truth, I don't know much about it. But I know this much. Health is NOT economics.

Health services should not be sold or traded like dental floss or strippers. These are people's lives we are dealing with, their livelihood. When people are looking to just make a profit off of your sickness or well-being, people who need the help don't get it.
Because here's how it works. Private insurance companies do not want to cover people who are terminally sick. It's costly. There are pills to buy, tests to run, physicians to pay...sick people are expensive. And insurance companies want to profit, just like every other business in the economy.
So they refuse insurance to the sick and insure people who are healthy. In fact, sometimes people are at risk of losing their insurance if they become terminally sick.

Our professor was telling us how some insurance companies would hold dance parties on the third floor walkup at a senior home. The senior citizens who are able to make that 3 floor trek up the stairs are greeted with food, music, dance, and access to care. The ones unable to get out of bed, the sickest people in the ward, don't get coverage. This is called "cherry-picking." The insurances "cherry-picks" the healthiest, and therefore, the least expensive people to cover.

I laughed when I heard this. A tragic wow-that-is-the-most-fucked-up-thing-I've-heard-in-a-while laugh.

I don't expect us to switch to universal health care anytime soon. I don't expect that a bill is going to be drafted that is going to make everything hunky-dory for everyone. In fact, I'm pretty sure that health care is going to be a vein-popping, voice-rising, eye bulging, and fist-shaking topic when I qualify for Medicare, some 45 years from now.

But something needs to change. People need to see that Health care is not a commodity, that it doesn't make sense as a commodity, and people on a whole are not benefiting this way. Deem it socialist if you want, condemn me for my communist views if you wish, but everyone should have access to health care. And the government is the only entity that can insure that. Period.