Possible topics

These are the general areas I am considering for a possible topic choice.

1) Effect of media on Health choices: I would like to know how much the media contribute to health choices that people make. Depending on the availability of information, I could look at for example, if people do pick up habit like smoking from the media, and if the anti smoking campaigns on the media like the “truth” commercials have been successful. Or I may look at the possible effects of the media on a Conditions such as Anorexia Nervosa(an eating disorder primarily affecting adolescent girls and young women )to know what is really known about people engaging in extreme dieting to look like media models. A German magazine recently resolved not to have any models on their pages so I think there will be some information linking the two out there.

2) Effect of news on desensitization: In a previous research I came across where someone was arguing that the media violence that really has an effect on behavior are the real ones such as those in sports or those carried in the news. And a friend of mine told me she isn’t moved anymore at news of someone being shot in DC because it comes all the time. I guess that is desensitization, but I think people also what to know if someone is shot in their neighborhood. I would want to know the kind of news reporting being proposed by those who think news is desensitizing, and how far their proposal is from censorship.

3) Twenty-four hour news stations and news quality: There seem not to be enough news to hold a round the clock broadcast. So issue that are not news worthy starts making it to the news, the news gets repeated, amplified, and discussed with opinions sometimes stated as facts just to hold up 24hr coverage. I think news reporting should just be about presenting the news to the public and not process it for them. Depending on the information available, I could slice this down to how news anchors in the different cable news channels like (FOX and MSNBC) polarize the society by clinging to the extreme sides of issues.

I hope to narrow these areas down to a topic, and any suggestions will be appreciated.

Survivor!

If I am to vote off someone off the island it will be Osama bin laden. I consider him a selfish and unrealistic opportunist that wishes to realize his perverted objective through aimless killings and divisive tactics. I think he is disgrace humanity.

Angry that the Saudi government rejected his proposal to defend Saudi Arabia when Iraq invaded Kuwait, but did accept the United State’s offer, bin laden criticized the Saudi monarchy and was asked to leave the country. He moved to the Sudan and declared war on the United States and her interests. His organization Al Qaeda capitalizes on Pro- Palestine sentiments and poverty to recruit militants. His strategy is to brainwash his recruits and have them go blow themselves up to kill innocent people.Such terror attacks have killed thousands of innocent people around the world, including the East African American embassy bombings and the 9/11 attacks and caused resources that could have gone into progressive developments to be channeled to elevate preventive security measures against attacks. Mr. Osama bin laden is the reason you take your shoes off at the security checks in the airport. That Mr. bin laden is alive and still gives out instructions in tapes after all his terrible deeds could inspire other disgruntled elements of society to adopt his tactics and methods.

Terrorism used to be rare, and restricted to the Middle East conflict. But these days there seem to be some form of terrorist cell in every part of the world waiting to explode. The world will be a safer place without an inspiration to such fundamentalism.

Blood diamond

Blood diamond is an exciting and stunningly well made attempt to combine the budget and the stars of major league Hollywood with a serious message about difficult un-Hollywood subjects like child soldiers, contraband diamonds and amputations as a tool of war.

Set in Sierra Leone during the1999 civil war, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer (DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as they could be until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond that Solomon buried while working at a diamond mine controlled by the guerrilla army (Revolutionary united Front).Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly),is a magazine reporter, that tries to cozy up to Archer so that she can get the story of how the smuggling racket works. Solomon, Danny, and Maddy all want something and they take turns using, helping, and half trusting one another to get it, stumbling in and out of war zones as young killers raid the towns firing AK-47s from the backs of pickup trucks. The overall effect is that of a fast paced and intense movie.

There are no major surprises in the plot of this movie; you can tell where it is heading to at any point. I guess the surprise is in that it actually is a good movie after all. A powerful storyline and fantastic acting held the movie together. A lot of attention is paid to the murder, mayhem, and chaos that have resulted in activist pressuring the Diamond industry to create The Kimberley Process. A joint government, international diamond industry, and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds (rough diamonds that are used by rebel movements to finance armed conflicts)
The filmmakers let us know that every time a valuable natural resource has been discovered in Africa—whether it’s ivory, gold, oil or diamonds—white Europeans have hired surrogates to plunder the goods, and the Africans have suffered terribly. But they do not preach to us; they work out the social meanings and the controlling economic interests through action.

Blood diamond is an exciting and stunningly well made attempt to combine the budget and the stars of major league Hollywood with a serious message about difficult un-Hollywood subjects like child soldiers, contraband diamonds and amputations as a tool of war.

Set in Sierra Leone during the1999 civil war, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer (DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as they could be until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond that Solomon buried while working at a diamond mine controlled by the guerrilla army (Revolutionary united Front).Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly),is a magazine reporter, that tries to cozy up to Archer so that she can get the story of how the smuggling racket works. Solomon, Danny, and Maddy all want something and they take turns using, helping, and half trusting one another to get it, stumbling in and out of war zones as young killers raid the towns firing AK-47s from the backs of pickup trucks. The overall effect is that of a fast paced and intense movie.

There are no major surprises in the plot of this movie; you can tell where it is heading to at any point. I guess the surprise is in that it actually is a good movie after all. A powerful storyline and fantastic acting held the movie together. A lot of attention is paid to the murder, mayhem, and chaos that have resulted in activist pressuring the Diamond industry to create The Kimberley Process. A joint government, international diamond industry, and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds (rough diamonds that are used by rebel movements to finance armed conflicts)
The filmmakers let us know that every time a valuable natural resource has been discovered in Africa—whether it’s ivory, gold, oil or diamonds—white Europeans have hired surrogates to plunder the goods, and the Africans have suffered terribly. But they do not preach to us; they work out the social meanings and the controlling economic interests through action.