Response to Prompt 4 (Movies and Violence)

I do think that movies, and all other forms of media, can influence a weak minded individual to act upon a suppressed urge. There are crazy people that look to horror/suspense/mystery movies as inspiration for the action they are plotting. If some mentally unstable person could relate with the character to which is committing the violent acts, I could imagine a scheme to imitate those actions. I also think that movies have a big effect on younger people who; a. Don't know right from wrong, due to a lack of discipline from their parents. b. Have been bullied and/or teased by their peers. or c. Have really vivid imaginations. I also think that the movies do a horrible job of stressing the fact that the killers have serious mental problems but when a movie like Saw or the show Dexter is made into a saga with the story line of a "mastermind" killing people who do wrong, I think that can send terrible messages to the views like its ok the kill that bad people. I only believe that movies can have this big of an influence on those who are incapable of thinking for themselves. I feel that it is the parents job, as parents, to instill the ideas of right and wrong in their child. Many serial killers anger comes from past vendettas with their parents so as long as the parents love and teach their children I don't think that a movie will be able a youth to sway into the mindset of a killer

Response to Prompt 2 (Drinking Age)

I think the drinking age is appropriate as it is; although, I do not like that at eighteen one can fight for his life yet not get the privilege of drinking. However, I do not feel that it should be lowered to eighteen. I think eighteen is too young because most eighteen year olders are not mature enough to handle the full responsibility of having a driver's license let alone the burden of drinking. Most students are eighteen while in high school and I feel if there are students in high school who are legally allowed to drink, high school would have to become a lot more strict. If students could purchase alcohol most of their younger cohorts would pressure them to buy alcohol for them then there'd be more younger kids drinking. There's also be the difficulty of chaperoning a school function, how would you stop the quarterback from hitting up a bar to "ease" some pre-game jitters, not to mention if the football team won a game then the whole team would go out and celebrate and put their whole career in jeopardy. Then there's prom, if eighteen was the legal drinking age there would be twice maybe three times more pregnancy after prom, and not to mention all the students who would come to the dance drunk and/or spike the punch bowl. I also feel that lowering the drinking age would, not only, raise the teen pregnancy rate but also the teen drop out rate, teens in jail rate, teen death rate. Also the statistics of students going to college after high school would also plummet. I don't feel that most young adults know what "drink responsible" mean. My cohorts drink to get drunk, not to be social or to intensify the taste of a dish. Sometimes I question if twenty-one is even a logical age because I see may twenty-somethings with the mind set of an teenager. But I do think that twenty-one is more appropriate then eighteen.

Response to Prompt 1 (Sports and War)

I do not feel that sports, as a general topic, mimic war; however, I do feel that there are some sports that were inspired by the idea of battling. If the topic in question was directed straight towards contact sports like football, boxing, or maybe even hockey, then I could see more similarities and more violence, but then the sports like baseball, basketball, or swimming that don't necessarily require contact. The common denominator in sports and war is victory, but competing to win is an everyday part of life, whether its for an employment position or a part in a show. Neither do i believe that violence is promoted in sports, it just happens, and when it does there are penalties to prevent it from happening again. Comparing current sports when gladiators fought for their lives as entertainment for a king and a crowd, there is no violence in sports today. I'm really not sure how i feel pertaining to the positive and/or negative impact on our culture, since sports are like a foreign language to me. I do think sports have supplied a great deal of inspiration to the arts, some of the most dramatic and evocative movies to ever be filmed have had a sports story line. Then there is the athletes themselves and their scandals, but all figures in the public eye are bound to have at least one scandal to taint their name, but that has nothing to do with the actual sport. The biggest negative impact sports has provided our culture is steroids, without sports there would be no need for that drug and all its baggage. In my opinion sports are just another good form of entertainment.