Ethnography? Oh dear...

Well dear readers (all three of you...), it seems as though I will soon be delving into the world of Homestuck.... a web-comic of dubious origins and murky content. Though fandom and being a fan of a literary work of some sort is not a new concept to me, I would be proud to count myself among the legion of Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Lord of the Rings (LotR) and random anime fans, a fan of a web comic I am not. Considering the plethora of friends and acquaintances that have been sucked into Homestuck addiction, it seems an easy choice (the other option being My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (MLP) though I fear I have had too much exposure to that particular sub-culture to be completely unaffected). So this Spring Break I will commence with the reading of at least the first three acts in the Homestuck saga... If my brain still exists at the end of break I will report some of what I'll have found out!

Harlow's experiments: Cruel or necessary?

I think that everyone will agree that taking a baby monkey away from their mom and subjecting it to scary things is cruel but then again, it is also very important to the study how humans react to such things. While using a human is out of the question why is it okay for another type of primate to suffer instead? While curing depression and figuring out how environment effects development could help our species, is it worth the sacrifice of all those monkey babies that grew up with wire mothers? I guess the main point of this blog is really to answer the simple question of whether years of animal suffering now worth a future without these problems in our societies future? And where is the line that separates justifiable from unforgivable? Or is there even one? The jury is still out for me so far, while I agree that it is cruel and something that is nowhere near the 'good' end of the moral scale, the research itself can be very beneficial in the future and I'm not sure where a line can be draw if there even is one.

The not-so-poor Kids

          Watching Poor Kids has really made me think about myself and my peers in general. I don't know about you all but the only times I've went hungry are... well almost nonexistent. It shocks and scares me how the families of these kids have so little and the way they are forced to live is just sad. It's not fair for a single mother to have to raise two kids as well as support them herself. Of course life is just that: not fair. It also makes me think of how I really don't want to end up in a similar situation. There is a Chinese saying about how good fortune and money and stuff won't stay for more than three generation. My family has worked hard and is pretty successful. Now it's my turn. How will I get a job? Keep a job? Find a place to live? If experienced adults can't do it, than how can I? How can we, we as in this generation, prevent ourselves from falling into the spike-lined pit of poverty? And how can we help those who have fallen in out? The Chinese reasoning why prosperity won't more than three generations is because by that point, all those who remember the hardship of reaching this point all have passes on and those who remain won't realize the value of what they have and will value it accordingly. And as all the hard earned money and other access are spent unwisely, the family is back at the bottom again. This sort-of worries me because now the eyes of my family will be on me to be successful and not setting the family into decline and I don't know if I'm up for the task. I don't want to sound like I don't care for those with less, but I'm worried for myself as well.